Name: Flash Flood in Arizona, July 16 to 17, 2001
Start: 2001-07-16T22:00
End: 2001-07-17T01:00
Location: Arizona

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $25,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS TWC wrote it up.

There was a swift water rescue, when a driver was washed a quarter of a mile downsteam in a wash located north of Kolb Road in Sahuarita. Also, there was a family on Tatanka Lane that had to take refuge in a tree when the home became flooded. Flooding along Sahuarita Road between Houghton and Wilmot was also reported.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tucson, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 16, 9:10 PM MST, 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 16, 9:10 PM MST, 50 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
910 PM MST MON JUL 16 2001

SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE TO OUR EAST WILL HELP TO GUIDE WEATHER
DISTURBANCES ALONG WITH PLENTY OF MOISTURE FROM NORTHWEST MEXICO
INTO THE AREA. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO
SPREAD THROUGH SOUTHEAST ARIZONA...MAINLY IN AFTERNOON AND EVENING
HOURS.

DISCUSSION...INVERTED TROUGH IN WEST MEXICO FOCUSING SOME NASTY
CONVECTIVE COMPLEXES THROUGH SONORA AND WESTERN CHIHUAHUA. THE
MONSOON MOISTURE BOUNDARY IS ONCE AGAIN BEING FORCED BACK THROUGH
WEST OF TUCSON. STRONG...DEEP OUTFLOWS SHOULD KEEP ISOLATED TO
SCATTERED CONVECTION GOING IN POCKETS AND LINES OVERNIGHT. TRAINING
CONVECTION WILL MEAN WE NEED TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR FLASH FLOODING
MOST OF THE NIGHT AS WELL.

DEBRIS CLOUD MAY BE DIFFICULT TO GET RID OF EARLY TOMORROW...
PROBABLY DELAYING STORM DEVELOPMENT AND AFFECTING AFTERNOON HIGHS A
COUPLE DEGREES IN SOME AREAS. STILL SEEING GREAT DYNAMICS 'THOUGH.
CONTINUED INFLUENCE FROM MID LEVEL FEATURES IN WEST AND NORTHWEST
MEXICO...OUTFLOW FROM SONORAN COMPLEXES AND A POSSIBLE SURGE UP THE
GULF OVER THE NEXT 48 HRS WILL PUT US BACK INTO AT LEAST A BETTER
THAN SEASONAL THUNDERSTORM FORECAST. UPDATES TO FOLLOW FIRST PERIOD
TRENDS AS WELL AS A FEW SMALL ADJUSTMENTS FOR TOMORROW.

.TWC...NONE.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Pima

When: July 16, 10:00 PM MST to July 17, 1:00 AM MST
Where: Pima County, Sahuarita
Property damage: $25,000
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 32.097, -111.790 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Arizona in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Arizona, July 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5258505.