Flash floods trigger evacuations in Arizona and Colorado amid heavy rains in southwest

SEDONA, Ariz. (AP) — Flash flooding prompted mandatory evacuation orders in parts of the Southwest on Sunday as heavy rains in the normally arid region have already brought deadly flooding this fall.Officials in the tourist destination of Sedona, Arizona, ordered residents in areas near Oak Creek to leave immediately as flood waters were rising rapidly and multiple people were already trapped in their homes.In southwestern Colorado, officials in Pagosa Springs, also a tourist destination, warned in a Facebook post of potentially “catastrophic flooding” as the San Juan River is forecast to crest at more than 19 feet (5.8 meters) around 11:00 p.m. Sunday.“To put the forecast into perspective, during the devastating 1911 flood that wiped out most of what existed as the town of Pagosa at that time, the San Juan River crested at approximately 17.8 feet (5.4 meters),” the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office said in a separate Facebook post. “This is a potentially catastrophic flood event. Exte