More flooding possible in Four Corners region after days of heavy rain

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More flooding possible in Four Corners region after days of heavy rain

2026-10-26 03:36 Last Updated At：03:50

A rain-soaked swath of the Southwest U.S. braced for the possibility of additional flooding as crews in New Mexico scoured evacuated neighborhoods Sunday for dead animals, downed power lines and other hazards left behind by receding floodwaters.

With more showers and thunderstorms in the forecast, the National Weather Service issued a flood watch for much of the Four Corners region — the meeting point of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The area has experienced unusually heavy rain since Wednesday that caused rivers to surge, flooding homes and forcing water rescues.

“The soils are very saturated right now, so it’s not going to take much rain for at least the small creeks and streams to overflow,” said Kris Sanders, a meteorologist at the weather service office in Grand Junction, Colorado.

In the Farmington area of New Mexico, local officials said swollen rivers were receding but that many people remained evacuated and hundreds were without power.

San Juan County, New Mexico, did not have official figures on the number of homes damaged or how many people were evacuated, but officials were not aware of any deaths, spokesperson Devin Neeley told The Associated Press.

“It’s a pretty active disaster zone,” he said. “We’re not on the downswing by any means.”

About 4 feet (1.2 meters) of water flooded the home of county Sheriff Shane Ferrari. He said the area’s situation was stable Sunday, but he and other residents were trying to clean up and deal with damage.

Officials in the hard-hit county urged patience and caution Sunday. Water could be contaminated with chemicals and raw sewage, and gas and propane lines could be broken, among other hazards.

“The public is anxious to get back in,” San Juan County Fire & Rescue Chief David Vega acknowledged at a news conference. “We recognize that. We’re sympathetic to that.”

“But I want the public to know there are still hazards out there,” he added.

Undersheriff Cory Tanner said officials were going from house to house to check for hazards — a process that could take days to complete.

The flooding is just the latest from two months of on-and-off heavy rain in the region caused by tropical moisture coming ashore from the Pacific. After months of drought, other recent deadly flooding struck the Grand Canyon and other areas of New Mexico.

Forecasters said El Niño, the natural and temporary warming of parts of the Pacific, was likely to blame for the latest storm's unusually heavy rainfall.

“It’s been more or less three or four days,” said Anthony Brown, lead meteorologist at the weather service office in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. “It’s pretty unusual.”

Brazil votes in a tense Lula vs Bolsonaro runoff with US influence over Latin America at stake

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilians were voting in Sunday’s polarizing presidential runoff between incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, a contest that will determine whether the U.S. will significantly expand its growing influence in Latin America.

Polls showed the two candidates, who need more than 50% of the vote to become Brazil’s next leader in January, in a neck-and-neck race. The election pits the left-of-center veteran politician Lula against Bolsonaro, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump and the son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro.

With minutes to go before poll closing time, both presidential candidates were asking Brazil’s electoral court to extend voting hours in some cities. Silva's request came after issues in nine states with buses that provide transportation to polls. Flávio Bolsonaro’s request was due to heavy rains in Brazil’s south. Polls were expected to close nationwide at 5 p.m. local time.

Flávio Bolsonaro bested Lula by more than 2.2 million votes in the first round of the election earlier this month. However, more than 33 million voters out of nearly 160 million did not turn out.

Bolsonaro and Lula have opposing ideological views on issues ranging from U.S.-Brazil relations and climate change to social welfare.

A win for Bolsonaro would signify a pivot to the right by Latin America's most populous country and its largest economy, in a year when Trump allies have scored victories in Chile, Peru and Colombia. A victory for Lula would leave Brazil and Mexico with left-of-center leaders.

In many ways, Brazil’s runoff vote is another tight rematch between the country’s two polarized political forces that trigger passion as much as loathing. Four years ago, Lula beat Bolsonaro’s father by the narrowest margin since the country’s return to democracy in 1985.

Lula, who first governed Brazil between 2003 and 2010, has faced a tough reelection battle because of concerns about the cost of living and security. Bolsonaro made a tough-on-crime approach the cornerstone of his campaign and pledged to bring down food costs.

Both have been hit by corruption suspicions involving family members and allies, with Bolsonaro implicated in a sprawling scandal rocking Brazil. Lula previously spent more than a year in prison on corruption convictions that were eventually annulled.

Bolsonaro’s admission that he accepted about $12 million from disgraced former banker Daniel Vorcaro to produce a film on his father’s life has cast a shadow over his campaign. He is under investigation for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in connection with the case.

As Bolsonaro voted at a school in Rio de Janeiro, his supporters shouted “Lula, thief, your place is in prison” while Lula’s supporters chanted in his support.

“The time of real change has arrived,” Bolsonaro said. “Brazil can’t go on for another four years on its current trajectory.”

In the lead-up to the vote, Lula frequently portrayed Bolsonaro, whose father is under house arrest for attempting a coup, as a threat to democracy. Bolsonaro has promised to seek an amnesty for his father if elected.

Lula, trying to lure undecided voters, has invested in costly incentives. His government endorsed a debt relief program for small businesses and promised free public transportation on weekends. A major win then came when the Senate backed a popular proposal to end the six-day working week.

Lula thanked his voters for an outpouring of support while casting his ballot in the city of Sao Bernardo do Campo, where he began his political career as a union leader in the 1960s. “It is a lot of generosity, a lot of care, a lot of love. I will be forever grateful,” Lula said.

Lula voters turned out Sunday driven by his history of supporting marginalized people and working to lift Brazilians out of poverty.

“Lula is a man of the people and he knows what it’s like to be poor,” Luzia da Souza, who runs a bar in Rio de Janeiro, said. "I find it impossible not to vote for him.”

Anderson Falcão, a 43-year-old journalist in Brasilia who sported a red shirt in support of Lula, said he worried about Bolsonaro’s long-term political vision, which he called “exclusionary.”

“It’s a project that harms the less fortunate, harms the worker, women, the forest, the Amazon,” he said.

Bolsonaro voters, many of whom wore yellow and green Brazil jerseys in support of the senator, said they want change.

“Things are really expensive and taxes are too high,” Fabianne Borges Santoro, a 45-year-old physiotherapist in Rio de Janeiro, said. She added that she once voted for Lula’s party but now associates it with corruption.

Kelvin Gomes Pimental, a 28-year-old data analyst in Brasilia, voted for a third-party candidate in the first round, making his vote a decisive one in this election. He ultimately decided to vote for Lula.

“It’s not even about Flávio himself. It’s also very much about the management of the other Bolsonaro government. He wanted to stage a coup,” he said. “These issues scare me a little.”

Diogo Furtado, a 35-year-old Uber driver in Rio de Janeiro, didn’t vote the first time because of his work, but said he'll vote blank on Sunday. He said that neither candidate convinced him.

“Brazil needs a new candidate,” Furtado said. “But unfortunately our country has become dominated by two names: Lula and Bolsonaro."

In Bahia state, a stronghold for Lula, whose voters tend to live in areas that depend more heavily on buses, at least 75 public buses were prevented from leaving municipal garages during the presidential runoff vote, according to a state electoral judge. He ordered the arrest of the mobility secretary of the capital Salvador, Pablo Souza, in relation to the case.

Mayor Bruno Reis, a Bolsonaro ally, blamed trade unionists for illegally sticking Workers’ Party materials onto transit vehicles for the measure.

President of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court, Kassio Nunes Marques, confirmed that electoral authorities received a report on problems with buses in Bahia that is being analyzed. He did not confirm if voting would be extended, which Lula requested in Salvador and Sao Paulo, where issues with public transportation were also reported in the city with a mayor allied with Bolsonaro.

“We will not be robbed by mayors, governors or businessmen," Lula told press. "These people need to respect democracy."

Bolsonaro did not immediately comment on the issue.

International observers earlier in the day said that voting was occurring peacefully and with transparency and did not immediately comment on the incident.

Lula criticized the U.S. president before Brazil's election, speaking about the risks of U.S. intervention in Brazilian elections after the Trump administration imposed high tariffs against Brazilian exports and classified drug-trafficking groups as foreign terrorist organizations. Experts say the moves may have been intended to make Lula look soft on crime.

Flávio Bolsonaro has touted his proximity to the White House and insisted that Brazil needs to strike better deals with the Trump administration, including in the rare minerals economy. Brazil estimates that its deposits hold up to 21 million tons, second only to China. He denies he's being helped by the U.S. government.

Trump said Sunday that he is watching the election but declined to endorse a candidate.

Voting in Brazil is conducted electronically and the result is usually available within hours after polling stations close at 5 p.m. (2000 GMT) in Brasilia.

Savarese reported from Sao Paulo. Brigida reported from Brasilia.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america