PHOENIX (AP) - Joseph Friend was driving his blue Chevrolet S-10 pickup onto Interstate 10 when a huge wave of floodwater kicked up by a big rig pushed his truck off the highway.
The 47-year-old Phoenix man was among more than two dozen motorists whose vehicles were left submerged in up to 4 feet of water following record-breaking rainfall in Phoenix on Monday.
The floodwaters from the storms are blamed for at least two deaths in southern Arizona.
A woman died after her car was swept away and became trapped against a bridge in Tucson, and a 76-year-old woman drowned when her husband tried to drive across a flooded wash in Pinal County.
The rain was caused by the remnants of Hurricane Norbert pushing into the desert Southwest. Phoenix recorded record rainfall for a single day, turning freeways into small lakes and sending rescuers scrambling to get drivers out of inundated cars.
Parts of Nevada also saw downpours, and 190 people from an Indian reservation about 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas was evacuated after more than 4 inches of rain fell on the rural, sparsely populated community of Moapa, pushing the Virgin River to near-flood stage. Some homes were damaged.
Closures on Interstate 15, the main route from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City, backed up drivers, damaged the roadway and washed away some vehicles, though no serious injuries were reported.
Strong thunderstorms also wreaked havoc in Southern California's deserts. Rescue crews answered more than 40 flood-related calls about stranded cars during the Monday morning commute in the La Quinta and Indian Wells areas near Palm Springs, Riverside County fire spokeswoman Jody Hagemann said. Numerous cars got stuck in high water in Coachella Valley, said Mike Radford, spokesman for the Indio CHP office.
In suburban Phoenix, crews in Mesa were trying to keep floodwaters away from around 125 homes after retention basins and channels along the U.S. 60 freeway reached or exceeded capacity, allowing water to flow into a handful of neighborhoods.
Crews worked into the night to disconnect power to submerged transformers, provide sandbags to threatened homes, and pump water from affected areas. A temporary shelter was being set up at a recreation center.
Norbert's effects will likely hang around Tuesday, National Weather Service meteorologist Charlotte Dewey said. But she warned any additional precipitation could quickly cause new flooding because the ground is already saturated.