Phoenix commuters woke to a torrential downpour instead of the desert sunrise early Sept. 8, 2014, and those who braved the drive to work found flooded roadways, mudslides and a river on top of Interstate 10. Some motorists had to abandon their cars as they floated away.
Two thunderstorms had developed early that morning, merging over Maricopa County and dropping record-breaking rain across metro Phoenix.
Sky Harbor International Airport recorded 3.3 inches of precipitation in one day, the most in over 115 years of record keeping. Chandler was hit the hardest, with 5.5 inches of rain in just eight hours.
Over 200 homes in Mesa flooded in the hours after the rain stopped, as runoff fed the water flow. Two people died, and Governor Jan Brewer declared a statewide emergency.
Ten years later, many residents still remember the flooding and that chaotic September morning. It was the wettest day in Phoenix, breaking the previous record set in 1939. And the main driver of the storm was a hurricane named Norbert.