Flash flooding triggers evacuations in Southwest and a dire warning for a Colorado spa town

PBS NewsHour · Kim Chandler; David Fischer; Associated Press · 2026-11-02 21:32 UTC

Heavy rains and flash flooding have prompted mandatory evacuation orders in parts of the U.S. Southwest.

Heavy rainfall produced flash flooding and mandatory evacuations in a swath of the Southwest on Sunday, including in a Colorado tourist town bracing for its main river to rise to historic levels, as weary residents in the normally arid region deal with another massive drenching.

Officials in Pagosa Springs, a town of more than 2,000 in the Rockies located near ski resorts and known for its hot springs, warned of potentially "catastrophic flooding" as the San Juan River was forecast to crest at more than 20 feet (6.1 meters) late Sunday night.

"To put the forecast into perspective, during the devastating 1911 flood that wiped out most of what existed as the town of Pagosa at that time, the San Juan River crested at approximately 17.8 feet (5.4 meters)," the Archuleta County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post. "This is a potentially catastrophic flood event."

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