Flagstaff wants residents to prepare for monsoon season

The monsoon will soon be upon us and the City’s Stormwater Management Section would like to make you aware of precautions and services provided by the City.

• Streets flood quickly! A car can float in as little as a foot of water! Do not cross flooded areas! Respect all barricades.
• If you see, or experience, a flooding emergency, please call 911.
• For non-emergency flooding concerns, please call 213-2100 or the Streets Section at 774-1605.
• Please do not leave trash cans, trash and debris in any area subject to flooding. It will float downstream and plug up stormdrains.
• If your property or home is impacted by flooding, the Stormwater Management Section will investigate the cause and may be able to help. Please contact Chris Kirkendall to report property flooding concerns at 213-2473.
• The City of Flagstaff operates a small network of radio-telemetered gauges that transmit rainfall and streamflow information in real-time (as it occurs). If you would like to see this information for the various locations in the City, plus the rain gauges in the Schultz burn area, go to:

www.jefullerdata.com/ADWR/Flagstaff/mapfs.html

• Sandbags can be obtained for free in the parking lot east of the baseball fields at Thorpe Athletic Center. The parking lot is accessed from North Aztec St. Although there are some prepared sandbags stacked and available, unfortunately, this sandbag filling area is not manned & people will need to fill their own sandbags if there is not an immediate supply of filled bags available.

Let’s make this a safe monsoon season!

Multi-Agency Response to Injured Hiker in Sycamore Falls

640sycamore-sheriff-01FLAGSTAFF — Yesterday at 12:00 pm Coconino County Sheriff’s Office Deputies and Coconino County Search and Rescue personnel responded to the report of a rappelling accident at Sycamore Falls. According to the reporting party a 56 year old male had been struck by a falling rock and was at the bottom of the canyon. Due to the remote location, treacherous terrain and the unknown extent of injuries assistance was requested from Arizona Department of Public Safety Air Rescue who responded from Kingman, AZ, Ponderosa Fire District, and Lifeline Ambulance.

300sycamore-sheriff-02Once on scene a search and rescue team member rappelled to the patient’s location and conducted an assessment. It was determined that the patient suffered isolated injuries to his left knee and foot however he did not have any serious or life threatening injuries. At that point it was determined that a helicopter rescue was not necessary and a ground based rope rescue system was constructed to raise the patient and a rescuer to the top of the cliff so he could be transported by ambulance personnel to the Flagstaff Medical Level One Trauma Center.

This incident was an unfortunate accident however the victim was wearing the appropriate safety equipment. It is important for all outdoor recreationists to tell someone where they are going, carry the “Ten Essentials”, and use the appropriate personal protective equipment for the activities they are engaged in.

Ten Essentials

1. Water
2. Food
3. Extra warm clothing
4. Navigation equipment (map, compass, GPS)
5. Headlamp/Flashlight
6. First Aid Kit
7. Shelter Material (space blanket or large leaf bag)
8. Fire Starting Kit (use extreme caution in the dry summer months)
9. Pocket Knife or Multi-Tool
10. Whistle/Signal Mirror