Arizonans fortify buildings as deluge from Odile begins

Barton Morse carries sand bags to his truck at Fort Lowell Park for delivery to a friend Wednesday as the remnants of Hurricane Odile makes their way into Tucson, Ariz. Odile was downgraded to a tropical depression when rain started falling across much of the state.
Barton Morse carries sand bags to his truck at Fort Lowell Park for delivery to a friend Wednesday as the remnants of Hurricane Odile makes their way into Tucson, Ariz. Odile was downgraded to a tropical depression when rain started falling across much of the state.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- People lined up in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and scooped sand into trash and canvas tote bags Wednesday as rain from a weakened Pacific storm began to fall on Arizona.

It's the second blast of hurricane-related weather to hit the desert region in the past two weeks -- the result of an especially active Pacific storm season. Odile was once a Category 3 hurricane but was downgraded to a tropical depression by the time rain started falling in Arizona.

The forecast called for Tucson to get slammed with up to 5 inches of rain. Phoenix was expected to get soaked but with lesser amounts.

Fearful of widespread flooding, people across Arizona rushed to fill up sandbags to fortify their homes. Traffic backed up at two parks in Tucson where the sandbags were being given out. The mayor of the border city of Nogales used his pickup to deliver sandbags to residents.

More than 40 people with bags and shovels huddled around a pile of sand as a steady rain fell at Reid Park. The pile dissipated in just minutes. It was the third pile since the makeshift sandbag station opened at 8 a.m. in the parking lot, said Cat Beddard, a Tucson Parks & Recreation employee.

Griselda Valenzuela showed up with her 1 ½-year-old son and hoped to get 10 bags.

"I don't want the house flooding and my son walking around," Valenzuela said.

About 70 miles south of Tucson, officials in Nogales spent the past week preparing for storms. Nogales is downhill from the city of the same name in Mexico, meaning rainwater from the Mexican side doesn't take long to drain into the city's washes.

"This happens to us every year. We don't need a hurricane for us to get flooded," Mayor Arturo Garino said. "This time we're being very, very proactive."

Weather and climate experts said it's rare to have back-to-back weather events like this in Arizona.

The Eastern Pacific hurricane season is 50 percent more active than usual, while the Atlantic is 50 percent less active. The result has been fierce storms striking Mexico in recent weeks, while the Atlantic had its first major hurricane -- Edouard -- form just this week.

Last week, the remnants of Hurricane Norbert caused deadly flash flooding in Arizona. The single-day rainfall totals in Phoenix eclipsed the average total precipitation for the entire summer. Freeways became submerged after pumping stations could not keep up with the downpour, and sections of Interstates 10 and 17 were closed most of the day.

Odile tore through the Mexican resort state of Baja California Sur late Sunday and Monday, where residents were still struggling Wednesday with a lack of power and drinking water.

Looters stripped supermarkets of their food and other products, with some people fighting over goods. At least one supermarket decided to give away its merchandise. People pushed shopping carts full of goods that at times clogged the highway.

Mexico's government continued to fly stranded tourists out of the area as a new tropical storm was nearing hurricane strength off Mexico's Pacific coast and heading in the general direction of Los Cabos. Early predictions were for the center of that storm to remain offshore.

Some tourists drove their rental cars or hired cabs to head north to La Paz, the Baja California Sur state capital that was hit with less intensity. They hoped they might have a better chance of getting out through the city's airport, but they found frustrated crowds, long waits and little information from authorities.

David Bergman of California said he and his family had been at the La Paz airport for two days.

"It's nothing but lies. We've just been lied to," Bergman said. "There's almost been rioting here two times. ... we were caged like animals."

Tourism Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu said via Twitter that 5,000 travelers had been flown out since the airlift began Tuesday. Officials estimated that 30,000 travelers were stranded by the storm.

President Enrique Pena Nieto's office said the federal government was working closely with state authorities on relief efforts in the areas battered by Odile, including restoring water and electricity.

It said more than 239,000 people had their power knocked out by the storm but predicted 95 percent of electrical service would be restored within four days.

Information for this article was contributed by Alba Mora Roca, Victor Caivano and Peter Orsi of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/18/2014

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