Crews in Arizona work to keep roads clear and neighborhoods safe

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (NBC, KYMA) - In Flagstaff, crews have been working to keep roads clear and neighborhoods safe, and the city is sharing how they're handing the flood risk and what's still ahead.

Flagstaff is used to snow, but it has been experiencing several straight days of soaking rain.

"It's just kind of crazy because you don't think of Arizona as getting a lot of rain, but I'm kind of enjoying it," said one Flagstaff resident.

By Friday evening, the rain came down hard and steady, turning streets slick and flooding low spots across town.

"Flood watches are definitely scary. I know how fast conditions can change, so definitely keeping an eye on it," said another Flagstaff resident.

Overnight, the city's Streets Department worked to keep up. The underpass along Route 66 was filled with so much water ADOT had to shut it down.

Workers tried to use shovels to clear storm drains, but eventually brought in a front end loader to scoop water away one load at a time.

"That's a creative solution as far as I'm concerned, a front end loader...Flagstaff has some flooding issues, but we're working on it," said another Flagstaff resident.

The city is offering free sandbags at Thorpe Park and residents just have to fill them themselves. An NBC affiliate in Phoenix found plenty of them surrounding homes near the burn scar of the 2019 Museum Fire, an area prone to flooding.

Outside Flagstaff City Hall, there is the Rio de Flag Flood Control Project, which is designed to reduce flooding in neighborhoods by redirecting water, but the only question is how much more water is going to be coming through there?

"The older houses that are next to the Rio de Flag, lower down, if there's like an actual flood, they're in trouble, but that's more like a 100 year type of flood type deal, so I don't think we're there yet," said another Flagstaff resident.

"I think the only place that's going to get bad flooding necessarily is like Doney Park. They get the worst of everything," said another Flagstaff resident.

With more rain on the way, everyone is hoping "the worst of everything" doesn't find its way into their neighborhood.