LAKE MONTEZUMA, AZ — Beaver Creek, a normally tranquil stream, came roaring through the town of Lake Montezuma on Thursday night flooding homes with several feet of water and debris.
Dan Hammond has called Lake Montezuma along Beaver Creek home for nearly 30 years and this is the first time the water has barged into his mother's home.
"There were big giant boulders rolling down the creek and you could hear that, it shook the ground," said Hammond.
The flooding along the creek peaked at around 10 feet, nearly five times its normal depth. Hammond said at least 20 homes along the creek were hit hard with flooding.
The community came together to get sandbags in place, but the water came up too fast.
"We brought truck after truck after truck and stacked them against the house, but it was coming up so fast there was no way to keep up," Hammond described.
Memories washed away, the family is now trying to salvage what they can, like the hardwood floor Dan's late father put in with his bare hands.
As the clean up continues, the family is just fortunate that nobody was hurt.
"We got lucky, we really did," said Hammond. "It could've been much worse."
As the flood waters slowly recede, an emergency shelter has been set up at the Beaver Creek Baptist Church for those displaced.
