You wouldn’t know it from looking at the sky in Hidden Valley this afternoon. There is a storm in the forecast bad enough that the county just setup eight sandbag stations, including one in rural Maricopa. Underneath those wispy clouds and blue skies, forecasters are warning of heavy rain and potential flash flooding expected tomorrow into Friday. The storm will be remnants of Hurricane Lorena, barreling up Mexico’s western coast. 

Like a troop of boy scouts, Pinal County officials are urging Maricopa residents to prepare now by collecting sandbags. Just in case. 

Pinal County provides clean sand, bags and access to “The Sandbagger,” a machine that operates similar to a water cooler. Users position the provided sandbag, push a foot pedal and fill the bag to the recommended halfway line. Residents are asked to bring their own shovels, gloves and sturdy shoes.

Sandbags are filled only halfway so they can be stacked more effectively around doors or garages, officials said. Foreman Joel Cunningham told reporters this morning his crew uses the same technique for barricades: “We just leave them about half empty. If you’ve got them full, the water will just blow them over. But when they’re half full, you can lay them across, and they’ll hold it.” 

The county announced the stations were open this morning. Just after the announcement, trucks filled with sand were rolling into the Hidden Valley location on Meadowview Road as crews got set up for the sandbagging operation. 

“We try to tell our residents please take 25 per household,” said Ray Garcia with Pinal County Public Works, putting a limit on how many each resident should realistically need.

So far, no one had taken any sandbags from the Hidden Valley location. While residents are supposed to be ready to load sandbags themselves, Cunningham said his crews were ready to help if needed.

“Like they say … we’re supposed to fill up the hopper and then they’re supposed to actually put it under it and fill up their own bag,” he said. But for extreme weather? “In an event like that, we’ll help them.”

Beyond the sandbags, Cunningham is responsible for responding to issues if conditions worsen. They just don’t know what to expect yet.

“We have a guy that’s on call, and if there’s an event, they’ll call us in,” he explained. “When they get out here, they’ll assess how bad it is, then start calling for help. Do we need graders? Do we need dump trucks? Whatever it takes, we got to try to keep the public safe.”

Cunningham said sometimes the safest action is to hold back during the height of a storm. 

“When it’s raining, you try to barricade everything up during the storm, because if you get out there with equipment, you can create more of a hazard,” he explained. “You want to wait until the majority of it has moved off, then you bring the equipment, then you bring the graders, the motors, whatever it takes. And that’s what we’re ready for.”  

In rural Maricopa, the aftermath often looks different than in the city. Cunningham said it is not always the water that causes the most trouble, but what the water leaves behind.  

“Out here, when we get a lot of rain, this is a crazy place,” said Cunningham, his hat shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun. “The way the water runs; I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s the sand. The whole desert just drains off into the roads. Sometimes the sand is worse than the water. It’ll bury the shoulders, wash them away, and you’ve got to haul dirt back in to make the roads safe again.”

The National Weather Service in Phoenix has warned that tropical moisture will surge into Arizona beginning Thursday, with the highest storm chances Thursday night into Friday. Meteorologists say any thunderstorm could bring heavy rainfall, localized flash flooding and gusty winds across central and southern Arizona.

“We never know where a storm’s gonna hit,” said Cunningham. “Sometimes it just dumps in one spot, and we’re fixing the same roads every day. But our job is to keep the public safe. That’s what we’re here for.”

Generational flooding occurred last time tropical stormwater flooded Maricopa’s three major washes: the Santa Cruz, Lower Santa Cruz and Vekol Washes. This 2017 footage from our news archive shows an unrecognizable version of the city.