Salt River at Gilbert Rd 2023 flooding

Salt River north of Mesa, AZ
Here are some links to later videos as the flooding progressed.
• Salt River at Gilbert ...
• Salt River at Gilbert ...
• Salt River at Gilbert ...

[@therealronniej]

Wish it could flow like that all the time! Beautiful thing to see.

[@zonacrs]

That would mean we have BOTH really wet winters and really strong monsoons. Which would be really cool. We could make Painted Rock dam on the southwest side reservoir storage again and have a true waterway through town again. Not going to happen but it's nice to dream.

[@Bbutler787]

I remember the Salt River taking out the roadway on North Country Club Drive way back in the 60’s. You could hear the River roaring all the way to downtown Mesa. Quite a sight then as I assume this is now.

[@zonacrs]

It's like that now. McKellips road is closed between Alma School and Country Club. SRP has released enough water to merge with the Gila river in southwest Phoenix and it is going all the way to the confluence with the Colorado river near Yuma! Been this way for about a month. Have to do the old McLellan Rd shuffle if you use McKellips road to commute. Most people just use the loop 202 freeway now, which has some awesome views of the Salt river actually being a river again as I type this.

[@matthewcraig8926]

I remember something like this happening when I graduated highschool in 1993. Was the year Mormon Lake flooded into ranch houses and major flooding in the Verde as well. I don't think there's been that much water in the Salt R. since that time. Cool video.

[@grantmccoy6739]

Really awesome to see a river flowing like this. It looks like potential, especially in that dry looking environment. The solution might seem to be a bigger bridge, but I think it's water retention strategies upstream. If you can slow down the water enough, you get infiltration, and less run off from then on. Dry soil can actually be hydrophobic, ironically.

[@brometheus4509]

Theres nothing wrong here, no solutions really required. There are 4 reservoir lakes further up this river that dam it dry and there is another lake reservoir on a tributary river (Verde) to the Salt. That one (Bartlett Lake) was the first to be released to make room for impending snow melt. All of our reservoirs are at capacity this season due to the wet winter and spring, so they are releasing the water down the river from Bartlett and others.

[@brometheus4509]

An old head from Phoenix would tell you that this used to be a yearly thing. We've been suffering a mega-drought longer than I've been alive until this year.

[@grantmccoy6739]

@@brometheus4509 yeah I'm not necessarily saying that anything is wrong. It's only "wrong" if it all goes to waste. I've actually learned about the SRP and all the dams and I would say they've done an amazing job in Arizona. All that being said, the water represents potential, and slowing it down, not stopping it entirely, is something worth considering, especially if these types of floods cause damage or the water supply is threatened.

[@zonacrs]

@@grantmccoy6739 It happens so rarely that it is, perhaps, a solution waiting for a problem. Painted rock damn in the southwest Phoenix area kind does just that past where the Salt river meets the Gila (confluence). It used to be a managed reservoir but near by farming polluted it to a point that it is nothing more than a diversion/abatement dam at this point, that and it was rarely full or usable from year to year. In really wet years like this the Gila is 'allowed' to flow to the confluence with the Colorado near Yuma. Pretty much a comparative trickle after the desert and ground water storage suck it up, but still cool to see. Cheers.

[@TheLittlered1961]

@@brometheus4509 Mega drought? Modern man does not know what a mega drought is in the southwest. From about the 1920's to the 1980's the southwest was experiencing higher than average precipitation. This is why the high water allotments to the different states. The late 70's and early 80's were the peak of precipitation. In the spring of 1980 I was wondering how I would make it from Tucson to Phoenix because only one road was open over the Salt River, over 8 hours to cross. Imagine 10 times the amount of water flowing through there, 200,000 CFS. At one time only the Tempe bridge was open, another time only the Scottsdale bridge was open. This was Not normal. What was normal was to drive through a dry Salt River bed on paved roads and No need to use bridges. I am the old head you are talking about. I remember the time well.

[@dansherwood9851]

40 years ago or so this is a regular occurrence. They would build bridges and every of the year or so they would get torn out by the flood until we thought they finally built one that would last. And now we can see the new bridge billion built big enough to survive what’s coming according to SRP.

[@JoeVideoed]

So that's what the half finished bridge is? The 1 for Gilbert Road. Never went out to that area so I'm not too familiar w/ it?

[@bhinckley89]

Answer me this: Why doesn't someone damn up the Salt River in one or more places through Mesa to make a series of little Tempe Town Lakes? That way, in good years, you could save a bunch of this water rather than just running it into a dry river bed and having it evaporate. Plus you'd have the recreational possibilities and aesthetics of having little lakes running through Mesa. Same thing downstream of Tempe, through Phoenix. How great would it be to have water in the city?

[@dannyneikes9050]

I was wondering what this crossing was looking like. Thanks

[@shagwellington]

I hope all that water is going into a resevoir and not being wasted.

[@elkhunter8664]

Painted Rock Reservoir east of Gila Bend is waiting downstream to catch it.

[@pinga858]

For wildlife and the geography you need to simulate natural flow, regardless of any human concern. River water can never be "wasted" by taking its natural course.

[@incontruth4116]

@@pinga858 tell that to the farmers that put food on your table. I hope all of this water is caught and not one single ounce of it is WASTED.

[@pinga858]

@@incontruth4116 lol you don't have food on your table without fertilizer, and you don't get that in quantity without the sediment process. No water in rivers and creeks, no food. I'd talk about stuff you're educated in before you speak. It never will, because that would fuck just about everything up. Good thing we listen to real experts who have centuries of knowledge, and not the idiot armchair army

[@RIXRADvidz]

I remember the Salt River floods in the 70's flooding parts of downtown Phoenix my sister was living with a family friend and her entire complex and surrounding neighborhoods were completely up past the tires seems they're still struggling with flood control, even in the 21st century

[@zonacrs]

No flood struggles here now. These are controlled releases. Roosevelt Dam was raised 77 feet during/after the 1993 mega flood. Among other things. What we are seeing now are planned reservoir releases that impact mainly travel over non bridged roads. The 70/80/90's floods taught us a lesson which is why the Salt and Gila river beds are usually dry. SRP is on their game. The partially completed bridge you see in the video is an example of that, when complete the old road will simply act as a diversion/abatement dam.

[@geoffreylee5199]

Is Phoenix watering lawns? What is the partial bridge used for?

[@Blake4625kHz]

My favorite part was when it go washed away 🤣 CFS! CFS! CUBIC FEET PER SECOND!!!🤣🤣🤣

[@ruserious9577]

Meh! Kid's stuff. The flood in 1980 had 110,000 cfs flowing down the river. Read that again! It took out EVERY single bridge in the city except Mill Avenue bridge and Central Ave bridge.

[@pinga858]

Man that thing later in the video went full Delta P nightmare mode

[@dansherwood9851]

North end of Gilbert rd in mesa heading to the beeline hwy

[@tdclymore]

Why did they tear he bridge down?

[@captainotto]

CFS = Cubic Feet per Second?

[@pinga858]

Yes

[@goldcat1844]

Its gonna be all new river bed.

[@terryperrott8567]

Gilbert Rd, where on Gilbert Rd

[@michiganjfrog5714]

♥

[@nkellybaseball]

I work in the mining pits just west of there you can see it in the video, but that water ate threw our aggregate walls and flooded our plant out 😂 I’ve never seen it flood as bad as it did this time

[@ross100com]

Yeah, we were watching that day when it breached, you have pretty large pond there now :)

[@justaguyfromreddit]

Nice video, but use the appropriate measuring unit

[@chickenwing111]

where is this?

[@ross100com]

On the north side of Mesa, AZ

[@pauldubois9033]

Kool beans thank you Slick D.F.F.D Dirty DOZEN M.C. Arizona PAUL DUBOIS AKA SLICK THANK YOU 😂😊

[@melvinjones3895]

No kayakers whats the matter with adventurers no body wants a free ride down the Salt.

[@Jeff-jg7jh]

The big 1970's flood(bigger than this) enticed people to go canoeing down the river. I watched four guys launch two Coleman canoes and that afternoon read about the drowning. They went over a little diversion dam about three ft. high. That's all it took. Just this week a couple of paddle boarders took it on and they haven't been found yet. So, playing in the water isn't encouraged.

[@عليحبيب-س2ع]

نةبكةرهيبغخت

[@stevenwendellnelson8861]

Please bow your head and say this prayer 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 "CREATOR, LORD GOD, If there is such a thing as ancestral sin, I beg you to forgive me. Thank you for everything CREATOR, LORD GOD. Amen."