4 dead after flooding in Arizona, including in historic mining town

GLOBE, Ariz. (AP) — Four people died after heavy rain caused flooding in Arizona, including three in a rural 19th-century mining town where floodwaters on Friday forced people to seek safety on rooftops and washed out a propane distributorship, scattering about 1,000 tanks downtown.

About 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) of rain fell in Globe, a city of about 7,250 people about 88 miles (142 kilometers) east of Phoenix, over 24 hours and another storm moved in Saturday, temporarily halting the search for people possibly missing in the flood because of high-flowing creeks.

Streets flooded in the nearby mining town of Miami on Saturday, but no injuries were reported, Carl Melford, emergency manager in Gila County, said. Meanwhile, about 20 tourists stranded in parts of the Havasupai Reservation, including at scenic Havasu Falls, because of flooding were evacuated, Bureau of Indian Affairs dispatcher Shaileen Gonzales said.

The remote reservation reachable only by foot, mule or helicopter lies deep in a gorge off the Grand Canyon. It’s popular worldwide for its scenic, towering blue-green waterfalls but is prone to flooding.

In Globe, the bodies of two people were earlier found in a vehicle and another person was found in the floodwaters in Globe, Melford said, They were not immediately identified by authorities.

Another person was found dead Saturday morning near a vehicle caught in floodwaters in suburban Phoenix the night before. The vehicle appeared to be empty after it was spotted partially submerged in about 8 feet (2.4 meters) of fast-moving water on Friday evening in a greenbelt park area, the Scottsdale Fire Department said. After the water dropped a bit overnight, crews found the body of a person pinned underneath a walkway bridge, the department said.

In the rural community of Globe, one of Arizona's oldest mining towns, sheriffs’ officials were looking into reports of people who may be missing, Melford said, but could not specify a number.

“We now have a massive search and rescue underway,” he said.

Rain poured down and quickly flooded the downtown area Friday, Melford said. One of the first areas hit was a propane tank distributor, sending about 1,000 residential-size tanks throughout the community, he said.

“There’s propane tanks everywhere through downtown Globe,” he said, adding that hazmat workers have been sent to the scene. “Luckily none of them ignited or exploded.”

The area previously experienced flooding in 2021 after a wildfire, but it didn’t happen like this, Melford said. The city is near canyons that can funnel water from the mountains into the community very quickly.

“This was an extremely heavy amount of rain in an extremely short period of time,” he said.

Videos shared on social media show vehicles in Globe being swept away by rushing, muddy water, with some smashed up against poles and large propane tanks scattered around.

Authorities are asking residents to not go out searching in the floodwaters because search and rescue officials are accompanied by dogs who might pick up the scent of aspiring volunteers instead of possible flood victims. If people want to help, they should start by assisting friends and neighbors in need, Melford said.

Globe city council members declared an emergency, saying they have never seen anything like the flooding.

Scores of people have stepped up to volunteer, said Mayor Al Gameros, adding that many buildings in the community’s downtown have been damaged. Officials asked people to stay away from the area until they could ensure it is safe to go in there.

“Our primary, again, is search and rescue,” Gameros said Saturday.

This story has updated to correct the spelling of Mayor Gameros' last name.

Damage from flooding in Globe, Ariz., is seen on Saturday morning, Sept. 27, 2025. (Adam Klepp/KNXV-TV - ABC15 Arizona via AP)

Damage from flooding in Globe, Ariz., is seen on Saturday morning, Sept. 27, 2025. (Adam Klepp/KNXV-TV - ABC15 Arizona via AP)

Damage from flooding in Globe, Ariz., is seen on Saturday morning, Sept. 27, 2025. (Adam Klepp/KNXV-TV - ABC15 Arizona via AP)

Damage from flooding in Globe, Ariz., is seen on Saturday morning, Sept. 27, 2025. (Adam Klepp/KNXV-TV - ABC15 Arizona via AP)

Without federal legislation codifying rules on athlete compensation and eligibility or an entirely new structure, there is likely no end in sight for the stream of lawsuits being filed by schools and athletes looking out for their interests in college athletics.

Duke and Cincinnati have filed lawsuits demanding their quarterbacks pay damages for allegedly breaching revenue-sharing contracts when they entered the transfer portal. Washington made the same argument and threatened legal action against its quarterback before he acquiesced and returned to the Huskies.

A parade of athletes, starting with Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia in 2024 and continuing with Virginia's Chandler Morris this week, have filed lawsuits challenging eligibility rules and seeking to extend the number of years they can compete — and earn money — in college.

University of Illinois labor and sports law professor Michael LeRoy recalled this week that the House vs. NCAA settlement, which allowed schools to directly pay athletes, was hailed by college sports leaders as the beginning of an era of stability.

“That," LeRoy said, "has been a spectacular miscalculation.”

In 2021, when college athletes began getting paid by third parties for use of their name, image and likeness, the thought was that most deals would give athletes a little pocket money. No one could foresee the life-changing money available to top athletes in 2026 through revenue sharing and NIL deals.

The rationale for athletes wanting to stay in school is to extend their window for making money, and the opportunity to make more money is the reason athletes walk away from rev-share contracts with their schools.

It would seem straightforward that if an athlete signed a rev-share contract requiring them to pay liquidated damages if they leave the school before the end of the contract, that provision would be enforceable.

It's not that simple.

“As a general matter of contract law, liquidated damages are typically enforced to the extent they are considered a good-faith effort to estimate a loss to one of the parties in case of a breach. They are not supposed to be punitive in nature,” said Andrew Hope, a Philadelphia attorney who specializes in contract law and works with schools on NIL matters.

Revenue-sharing contracts pay athletes for their NIL rights, not athletic performance. Hope said athletes argue liquidated damages provisions don't accurately reflect a loss in the value of their NIL to the school simply because they transferred or are seeking a transfer. The schools, of course, argue otherwise.

Duke filed a lawsuit seeking to block quarterback Darian Mensah from transferring and reaching a contract with another school, and a negotiated settlement was announced a week later. Cincinnati filed a lawsuit against quarterback Brendan Sorsby demanding he pay $1 million in damages for not fulfilling the second year of his two-year contract. He transferred to Texas Tech.

Sports attorney Mit Winter, based in Kansas City, Missouri, predicted most of the contract disputes will end up with negotiated settlements. He said neither the school nor athlete will want to go through the time and expense of a court battle.

Hope noted that in a traditional employee contract, a non-compete clause would force the athlete to pay damages.

“But you can’t have that,” he said, “because these students aren’t employees.”

The way Winter sees it, one of three things must happen to stop the lawsuits seeking eligibility beyond the traditional four-seasons-over-five years window.

One would be a federal law giving the NCAA an antitrust exemption. The eligibility lawsuits argue the NCAA is limiting economic opportunities by placing a limit on how long someone can make money as a college athlete. The SCORE Act in Congress would provide the antitrust exemption, but the bill's future is in doubt.

Winter said the U.S. Supreme Court could uphold the NCAA's eligibility rules. It should be noted, though, that the high court ruled 9-0 against the NCAA in 2021 in the NCAA vs. Alston case. Justice Brett Kavanaugh famously wrote the NCAA's rules probably would no longer hold up well in future antitrust challenges and added, "The NCAA’s business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America.”

LeRoy said the NCAA's case for an antitrust exemption is further weakened by the emergence of private equity firms' interest in college athletics.

“The eligibility disputes really come down to: Do you characterize the market for college players as people seeking a degree while concurrently playing a sport? That’s the NCAA's view," LeRoy said. "But courts more often than not accept the players’ characterization that it’s a market for athletic services, it’s commercial in nature. If a court uses the word ‘commercial,’ it’s over for the school and the NCAA.”

Winter said the third solution would be for eligibility rules to be collectively bargained, which would require athletes to be considered employees and unionized.

Winter predicted football and men's and women's basketball players in the Power Four conferences eventually will be considered employees.

“There are more and more people in college athletics who are getting behind an idea like that — some athletic directors and for sure some coaches," he said. “The NCAA itself is still opposed to it. It’s always possible the schools break off from the NCAA and do their own thing.”

If the Power Four, or just the powerful Big Ten and Southeastern conferences, broke away from the NCAA in football and basketball, collective bargaining would settle issues about length of eligibility, whether athletes with professional experience can return to play in college and a host of others that have become gray areas for the NCAA.

This version corrects spelling of Brendan Sorsby's first name.

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

FILE - Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby (2) is interviewed after a NCAA college football game against Baylor, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Tanner Pearson,File)