Search teams in Yavapai County are working to locate a 70-year-old Cordes Lakes resident whose vehicle was swept away by flash flooding Tuesday afternoon.
Authorities say the man drove into a flooded crossing on Big Bug Creek near Fremont Drive and Thunderbird Trail around 3 p.m. The rising water carried the sedan downstream, where deputies spotted two men clinging to or near the trunk as the vehicle was being pushed along by the current.
A deputy was able to reach one of the men and pull him to safety. The driver, however, stayed with the vehicle as it continued to move through the floodwaters. The rescued passenger told deputies he had attempted to help before the car overturned and drifted away.
The vehicle was eventually discovered lodged against a tree roughly two miles from where it entered the creek, but the driver was not located. Crews searched both sides of Big Bug Creek on Tuesday and continued operations Wednesday along the creek and the Agua Fria River.
Heavy storms affected central and northern Arizona on Tuesday and Wednesday, triggering multiple flash-flood incidents. In Wickenburg, two vehicles became trapped in high water, but all occupants were rescued without injuries.
Additional storm and safety updates are available through the National Weather Service’s Arizona portal.
