Water released from reservoirs causing flooding on some Arizona roadways

Salt River Project (SRP) is releasing dams northeast of Phoenix and the water has made its way to the Salt River bed in west Phoenix – causing some roads to flood.

Road closure signs have been put up on 67th Avenue and 91st Avenue where the water is on the blacktop.

"We were going somewhere, to another place real quick, but we took this road because the map said go down this way, but it was closed," Aidan Phillips Barnes said.

You can’t drive through the water, but you can certainly walk up and enjoy the view of running water in the desert – a much welcomed sight.

"Just checking out the river. It’s very cool because normally this road, you can go through the road, but not this time," Gabor Szogy said.

Snow melt runoff is leading to dam releases from, and subsequent overflowing of the Salt River.

"There’s a lot of snow up in the Verde watershed. There’s a lot more water than what we have capacity to store in the reservoir," explained SRP Hydrologist Stephen Flora.

The releases started about 10 days ago and are expected to continue for the next several weeks, prompting SRP to warn people not to attempt crossing the roadways.

"This winter has been great to help refill the SRP reservoirs. Our reservoirs are about 90% capacity right now, and we expect them to be near full this spring," Flora said.

This water is making a positive impact on Arizona's lacking groundwater supply.

Read more about the water release here.

Continuing coverage on Salt River flooding