SPRINGDALE, UTAH — A serious multi-day flood threat is underway in the Southwest as two former tropical systems turn the typically dry desert into a breeding ground for heavy rain.

Soaking rainfall began over the region Thursday night as increasingly humid air arrived. Parts of the Phoenix metro had picked up a half-inch or more of rain by early Friday afternoon, with higher totals of 1 to 3 inches in the mountains north of there.

Flood watches cover parts of six states, with the bull’s-eye of the most serious flood concern in central and northeastern Arizona and southwest Utah now into Saturday morning. That’s where a Level 3 of 4 risk of flooding rainfall has been issued, according to the Weather Prediction Center. This means “numerous flash flooding events” are possible, some of which

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