Floods swamp the arid Southwest, forcing evacuations and altering Election Day plans

A massive amount of water from unusually heavy rain was flowing through flood-weary parts of the Southwest on Monday, forcing hundreds of evacuations and keeping swift-water rescue teams busy as elections officials in at least one town announced alternative voting plans for Election Day.One person died in the flooding, and police suspect a second death also is weather-related. The National Weather Service estimated as much as 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain could fall across the Four Corners region — where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet — through Monday as the phenomenon fueled by the warming Pacific known as El Niño disrupts weather patterns.Over 20 trillion gallons of water have fallen on the Four Corners states and Nevada in the past two weeks, according to calculations by former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist Ryan Maue.Officials had warned of “potentially catastrophic” flooding in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, a town of more than 2,000 th