Extended flood warning for Gila River, National Weather Service urges caution for Memorial holiday weekend

YUMA COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - A flood warning continues for the Gila River as its banks continue to swell.

The flood warning from the Painted Rock Dam to the Colorado River has seen multiple extensions and has lasted for over a month.

According to the National Weather Service, the water continues to be released from Painted Rock Dam upstream with water releases being cut back.

However, it takes some time for all that water to clear out of the channel.

The rural roads that have been built and will continue to be closed until that water completely empties the channel.

Although the flood warning is scheduled to end on Tuesday, May 30, expect another extension.

[sot] mark o’malley /////——national weather services phoenix, az

“Currently, it goes through Tuesday. However, there is still a lot of water in there so it’ll probably be extended for another week beyond that. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel they have cut the releases from the Painted Rock Dam so we can see in probably a week or two it will finally be cleared from out of the channel," stated Mark O'Malley from the National Weather Service in Phoenix.