Flooding in north Phoenix kept road crews busy pumping water off parts of Interstate 17 on Monday.
Arizona Department of Transportation had to remove hundreds of thousands of gallons of water in just a few hours. About two inches of rain fell in parts of the Valley within a few hours Monday. That forced ADOT to close some ramps on I-17 between Deer Valley and Thunderbird Roads, in both directions, for a few hours.
ADOT spokesman Doug Nintzel said there are permanent water pumps on I-17 that automatically move into action when flood waters activate a sensor.
“I think the biggest challenge was at Greenway Road, because one of the two pumps is actually down for repairs so we were operating at 50 percent capacity, and it took longer to clear that intersection out than it did for the other major roadways up there,” said Nintzel.
Nintzel said that portion of I-17 was cleared of water before afternoon rush hour Monday. He said the pumps on I-17 are approaching 50 years old and sometimes do not always work efficiently when water on the road gets deep. Nintzel said the water is pumped into nearby ditches or diversion canals.