Record-setting rainfall slows Phoenix traffic, shutters fair

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PHOENIX (AP) — Record-setting rainfall from remnants of Tropical Storm Sergio closed the Arizona State Fair on Saturday and slowed traffic on a freeway and local streets across metro Phoenix.

Fair officials said on Twitter that the closure Saturday afternoon for the rest of the day because of weather was the first “in recent memory” and they cheerfully noted that sunny skies are forecast for Sunday. The annual fair opened Oct. 5 and runs through Oct. 28.

Scattered street closures were reported in Phoenix and several suburbs, including Surprise, where a Fire Department crew rescued a male from his car stuck in a hubcap-deep water on a flooded road.

Flooding on a low-lying portion of Interstate 10 in west Phoenix prompted the Arizona Department of Transportation to advise drivers to avoid the area until the water subsided after about an hour.

The heaviest rain ended by early afternoon, and skies over Phoenix began clearing by midafternoon as the soggy weather moved northward. But forecasters said a threat of more rain would continue through the night.

The rainfall Saturday made the month Phoenix’s wettest October on record and the city’s 10th wettest month ever, the National Weather Service said.

Phoenix had 1.32 inches (3.35 centimeters) of rain by 1:38 p.m. for a total of 4.45 inches (11.3 centimeters) of rain so far in October, the weather service said. Phoenix got 2.36 inches (5.99 centimeters) of rain on Oct. 2 from remnants of a previously downgraded tropical storm.

Sergio dissipated into a remnant low Friday after soaking Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, crossing the Gulf of California and then continuing to lose punch over mainland Mexico before it entered the United States.

Baja California Sur Gov. Carlos Mendoza Davis said via Twitter that the Sergio caused minor damage to roads and roofs and knocked down trees and power poles, but the storm did not cause any injuries or deaths in the state.

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