Record rain fills rivers and washes in Tucson area

Friday's record rains in the Tucson area are generating huge flows in the regions rivers, that typically run dry much of the year.  The Catalina Mountains received over 5" of rain during the storm. Rain continues this morning.  Mike Conway, Chief of the AZGS Geologic Extension Service, reports that

at midnight, flooding on Tanque Verde Wash reached ~5,500 cfs. That is a high for the area, and much greater than flow on other washes and rivers in the area – see the hydrographs from the USGS for the Santa Cruz River Basin and San Pedro River Basin -  http://waterdata.usgs.gov/az/nwis/current/?type=flow

For comparison, Mike says the Colorado River at Yuma rarely gets above 5,000 cfs.