Floods bring rare relief to US Southwest reservoirs as Lake Powell rises
20 feet
[November 09, 2026]
By WUFEI YU
PHOENIX (AP) — Recent flooding across the U.S. Southwest is providing
rare relief to thirsty reservoirs that had fallen to record lows amid a
yearslong megadrought.
Storms in late October and early November sent torrents of water through
normally small or dry creeks that overflowed their banks and flooded
local communities.
Hundreds of people were told to evacuate, and the flooding cut off
access to some areas. Yet most of that water will end up feeding
depleted lakes and underground aquifers, said Martin Hoerling, a climate
scientist and hydrologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
“That’s somewhat of an unexpected boost from Mother Nature,” Hoerling
said.
Last winter's lackluster snowfall did little to recharge water bodies
when it melted in the spring and summer, when they typically get their
biggest bump of the year.
Then came the chaotic climate phenomenon, El Niño, that has intensified
heavy rain and floods. Experts say its impacts will last several more
months, potentially further boosting water supplies across the West
where water primarily is stored in lakes, aquifers and snowpack.
Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the U.S., rose more than 20
feet (6.1 meters) from its mid-September low — dwarfing its gains from
this year's snowmelt, Hoerling said. Still, the lake remained just over
a quarter full, and 15 of its 17 boat launches remained unusable as of
Friday.
The floodwaters and additional rain could raise the lake along the
Arizona-Utah border further, for a total of over 1.2 million acre-feet —
enough to support around 4 million average families for a year, Hoerling
estimated.
Rain brings temporary relief to regional and local water supplies
Cities in the region reported some of their wettest weather in decades.
Before storms began dumping about 7 inches (17.78 centimeters) of rain
around Pagosa Springs, Colorado, in October, more than 10,000 people in
the town and surrounding communities were under water restrictions.
Restaurants were encouraged to serve water only on request, town manager
David Harris said. Those restrictions are now lifted.
“While the storm was destructive, I think there is a silver lining,”
Harris said. “You’re getting a good start to the winter snowpack in the
higher elevations.”
Upper Lake Mary, which captures spring snowmelt in Northern Arizona and
supplies Flagstaff, Arizona, with up to 40% of its water, received more
than 3 billion gallons of water since early October, said Flagstaff
water production manager Brian Huntzinger.
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This photo provided by the National Park Service shows the Stateline
Auxiliary Launch ramp floating on Lake Powell in the Glen Canyon
National Recreational Area on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, near Page,
Ariz. (M. Prachthauser/National Park Service via AP)
Storms last weekend dumped the equivalent of more than two years of
water into the town's surface water supply and provided a buffer for
an operation that depends heavily on underground aquifers,
Huntzinger said.
“It’s just a great, great thing to see,” Huntzinger said. “We might
be overflowing at this rate before we see any snow fly.”
In central Arizona, heavy floodwaters that trapped people in their
homes gushed into streams that feed the Verde River. That prompted
water officials to release water from two nearly full dams into the
Verde's normally dry stretch in metro Phoenix, said Bo Svoma, the
principal meteorologist at the Salt River Project that manages
reservoirs on the Salt and Verde rivers.
Wet weather is unlikely to change decisions on the Colorado River
The region remains in drought despite the intense rains.
And decisions already have been made to divvy up water in the
Colorado River basin. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages
reservoirs in the West, is unlikely to change its water releases
from Lake Powell or other areas until it knows when snowpack has
peaked, typically around April, said Jack Schmidt, a Utah State
University professor who studies the Colorado River.
Reclamation spokesperson Mary Carlson acknowledged conditions have
improved but added ”considerable uncertainty remains.”
Under the federal plan for managing the Colorado River's Lower
Basin, California, Nevada and Arizona will collectively reduce water
use by 1.25 million acre-feet (about 1.54 billion cubic meters)
annually in the next two years. That is enough to fill over 600,000
Olympic-sized swimming pools, with the possibility of larger cuts
depending on conditions.
Nevada and Arizona are challenging the plan in court.
Some Arizona cities have agreed to fund preliminary work to reduce
reliance on the Colorado River by expanding an existing dam on the
Verde River to capture runoff from storms, Svoma said.
“We need to figure out how to be resilient in a drier future. And
we’re not quite there yet,” Hoerling said.
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