GLOBE, Ariz. -- Heavy rains across portions of Arizona flooded some creeks and rivers and caused some evacuations and road closures Monday, but authorities were hopeful the state would dodge severe damage.
Officials kept watch on other waterways expected to crest by Monday night, including the Little Colorado at Winslow. Flows were normal -- only a foot or two of water during early-afternoon hours -- and no homes were evacuated there.
Authorities initially had estimated that the river would reach about 20 to 22 feet when expected to crest about midnight, possibly jeopardizing a levee and potentially threatening some homes north of Winslow, Navajo County Emergency Services Manager Tim Zaremba said.
By mid-afternoon, Zaremba's assistant, Tommy Price, said it was likely that officials would adjust their estimate downward to nearly 16 feet. No evacuations had been called for or were in place for Winslow.
Elsewhere, hydrologists with the Bureau of Indian Affairs said water levels for two dams on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation kept lowering, though a flash flood warning for dam failure remained in effect until evening.
Earlier, an undetermined number of people were evacuated from the town of Carrizo because of the threat that homes could be flooded from water gushing down the Carrizo and Corduroy creeks if the Coolee and Bootleg dams failed. Authorities said the dams' spillways had not been inspected yet to determine whether they had been damaged, so the potential for dam failure remained until levels lowered more.
Gila County officials helped more than three dozen residents evacuate trailer or RV parks in the Tonto Basin, Ranch del Escondido and Roosevelt Gardens East.
Related story: Flood Evacuations Hit Tonto Basin
Meanwhile, a Red Cross shelter opened in Punkin Center for residents evacuated on the west side of Tonto Creek.
Just northeast of Tucson, portions of the Sabino Canyon National Recreation Area remained closed because of the effects of rainfall in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Upper Sabino Canyon was closed beyond the first bridge as was Bear Canyon along with all water crossings in the canyon because of high water and potential flash flooding.
"It's just not safe to cross at this point," Forest Service spokeswoman Heidi Schewel said. "We don't know what's going on further up the canyon."
In Greenlee County, the Blue River was falling upstream from Clifton after it crested during the morning about 4 feet above the river's banks. That cut off a number of homes on the river's east bank from U.S. 191.
Steve Rutherford, Greenlee County operations coordinator, said the San Francisco was expected to crest below flood stage without posing a threat to the far eastern Arizona towns of Clifton or Duncan.
In the Phoenix area, runoff from heavy storms over the weekend flowed through the normally dry Salt River and over the Tempe Town Lake's dam. The water was to flow through the river bed and eventually into another river.
