Overview
- SRP increased controlled releases from Bartlett and Stewart Mountain dams to about 54,000 cubic feet per second, a rate the utility reported after heavy weekend rain pushed reservoirs above capacity.
- The City of Tempe closed Tempe Town Lake to all on-water recreation because higher flows and debris create unsafe conditions for boating and rowing.
- Several roads built in the normally dry Salt River riverbed in the East and West Valley are closed and the public is directed to AZ511 for updated travel information.
- SRP says the water is moving down the Verde and Salt rivers, will flow over Granite Reef Diversion Dam into the Gila River toward Yuma, and is being offered to cities and irrigation districts for deliveries and aquifer recharge.
- SRP hydrologists call current October–November inflows exceptional, likely the highest in the Verde watershed since 1972, and say releases will continue for several days and could increase depending on further upstream runoff.