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Flash floods sweep away woman in Cochise County
Search and rescue crews in Cochise County are looking for a woman swept away during overnight flash flooding between Bisbee and Sierra Vista. FOX 10's Nicole Krasean has the details.
COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. - Search and rescue crews in Cochise County continue a desperate search for a woman swept away by flash floods. This comes after two powerful monsoon storms pummeled the region in just a 72-hour window.
What they're saying:
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels says this is an area with a lot of washes, which can easily turn rainfall into dangerous flooding.
"We don't see it a lot here in Arizona, but when the storm's coming and the way they're coming this year, yeah, they're dangerous," Dannels said.
Cochise County leaders spent Thursday morning, Aug. 6, searching for a missing migrant woman who they say was swept away during overnight flash flooding in an area between Bisbee and Sierra Vista.
"We found articles of clothing that match what she was wearing, but we have not found her, so it's a sad situation here in Cochise County," Dannels said.
Two severe monsoon storms in a 72-hour window triggered flash flooding in Cochise County.
Local perspective:
In downtown Bisbee, the flooding turned streets into little rivers, with hail collecting on overhangs.
"I've never seen a storm like that," said Bisbee business owner Gretchen Bonaduce. "It literally was lightening striking every second. It was very strange."
Bonaduce owns several businesses in Bisbee, including Le Cornucopia Cafe, which she says sustained significant damage.
"Because we are literally at the opening of the gulch, all the water rushes down," Bonaduce said. "I don't believe we had any that seeped into our basement, thank goodness, but there's a lot of debris, a lot of leaves, it was just a mess over there."
Bonaduce says the Bisbee community is already joining together to clean up and check on each other after the storms.
"Really and truly Bisbee people are the kindest and the first people to come and help when there's any kind of an issue," Bonaduce said.
Big picture view:
The damage wasn’t limited to Bisbee. Deputies reported widespread impacts across southern Arizona, including a brief tornado warning east of Sierra Vista.