TUCSON, Ariz. — People lined up in bumper-to-bumper traffic and scooped sand into trash and canvas tote bags Wednesday as rain from a weakened Pacific storm began to fall on Arizona.
It’s the second blast of hurricane-related weather to hit the desert region in the past two weeks – the result of an especially active Pacific storm season. Odile was once a Category 3 Hurricane, but was downgraded to a tropical depression by the time rain started falling in Arizona.
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Storm activity is expected to pick up during the day, and the forecast called for Tucson to get slammed with up to 5 inches. Phoenix was expected to get soaked but with lesser amounts.
Fearful of widespread flooding, people across Arizona rushed to fill up sandbags to fortify their homes. Traffic backed up at two parks in Tucson where they were being given out. The mayor of the border city of Nogales used his pickup truck to deliver sandbags to residents.
More than 40 people with bags and shovels huddled around a pile of sand as a steady rain fell at Reid Park. The pile dissipated in just minutes. It was the third pile since the makeshift sandbag station opened at 8 a.m. in the parking lot, said Cat Beddard, a Tucson Parks & Recreation employee.
Odile tore through the Mexican resort state of Baja California Sur late Sunday and Monday.
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