Forecasters issued flood watches Monday and warned more rain and isolated thunderstorms could hit the Southwest after the remnants of tropical storm Rachel caused severe flooding in Las Vegas over the weekend.
Las Vegas tied an all-time daily rainfall record for the month of October after receiving 1.08 inches of rain into Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service. The last time that much rain fell on the city in one October day was
in 1947.
Videos posted on social media showed a torrent of water rushing through a street near the Las Vegas Strip, with a Ferris wheel and casinos in the background.
Andrew Orrison, a weather service meteorologist, said localized flash flooding was still a risk for the region Monday.
“We’ve seen the worst of what Rachel brought ... but unfortunately we are looking at the disturbed weather still lingering,” Orrison said.
The weather service issued flood watches through Monday afternoon for a large swath of Utah, southeast Idaho, and northern and central Arizona, including the Grand Canyon.
The additional rainfall is not associated with Rachel, but a different weather system moving across the West, Orrison said. The precipitation is forecast to end by Wednesday.
Wind, rain, and unusually large waves caused by Rachel battered the Southern California coast over the weekend, forcing oceanside residents in Long Beach to evacuate. Waves tore apart a historic boardwalk and smashed against coastal homes.
The East Coast is forecast to remain clear since Hurricane Isaias has moved well offshore.
At least four deaths have been linked to Isaias, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, which came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane Friday near Destin, Florida, a Gulf Coast vacation spot filled with high-rises and tourist shops. The storm then roared into Alabama with tropical-force winds before heading farther north.
About 158,000 customers remained without power Monday morning in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama, according to poweroutage.com. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he expected nearly everyone to have it restored by Tuesday night.
Drier weather is expected over the next few days across areas of the mid-Atlantic down through the Southeast, including the southern Appalachians.
It will feel “a little summerish” in some of those areas with higher than normal temperatures this week, Orrison said.
