The Brief

Cars half-submerged in water and neighborhoods transformed into temporary rivers are images that are difficult for long-time Valley residents to forget.

The scenes from September 2014 were the result of a rare weather event in the desert.

What we know:

Gabriel Lojero with the National Weather Service in Phoenix said it was a remnant moisture plume from Hurricane Norbert , which was off the Eastern Pacific, that caused the widespread flooding.

"That amount of rain in such a short amount of time, and especially in a desert area that cannot hold on to as much rain, you get major flash flooding," Lojero said.

Dig deeper:

The city of Mesa was particularly hard hit, with about 200 homes damaged in the flooding.

"We looked at a lot of the rain gauges that registered well

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