Flash flood warnings extended for Chinle, Canyon de Chelly areas

NWS Flagstaff extended flash flood warnings for portions of Apache County, including Chinle, Del Muerto and Canyon de Chelly, and kept them in effect into early Saturday morning. At 12:40 p.m. MST, Doppler radar showed thunderstorms producing heavy rain, with flooding occurring or imminent in the warned areas.

The warning landed where daily life is centered in Chinle, the community center for the Chinle Chapter and home to Chinle Unified School District #24 and Chinle High School. That put school routes, errands and access to services at risk in a community where water can move fast through canyon terrain and low-lying drainage channels.

During the same monsoon period, radar and rainfall reports identified threats in burn-scar and canyon terrain, where runoff can turn washes and drainages into dangerous channels within minutes. In the Chinle and Canyon de Chelly area, that meant the most exposed places were the washes, drainages and canyon cuts that people use to get in and out of town and reach nearby landmarks.

In April 2023, flooding in Chinle affected more than 300 people, with some residents evacuating and others refusing to leave, and the Navajo Nation Office of the President later issued a closure notice for Canyon de Chelly National Monument over flash flood danger.

NWS Flagstaff's 2024 annual report identified Northern Arizona weather that year as marked by deadly flash floods, extreme winds and severe drought. For families in Chinle and Del Muerto, the immediate concern over the next several hours was rising water in washes, sudden runoff after storms and any road or crossing that drops into a drainage channel.