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6 years later, Arizonans vividly remember the 'storm of the century'

It brought measurable rainfall, massive flooding and made one mess after another of Valley highways.

PHOENIX — The weather across the country has continued to make headlines but if you think that's wild, take a look back at the "storm of the century."

It brought measurable rainfall, massive flooding and made one mess after another of valley highways.

Some of us who lived here back in 2014 can hardly remember just what it looked like when we actually had active weather spawning from hurricane remnants but one then-Valley teen, McKenna Beahan, remembers it like it was yesterday.

"As soon as I walked out of my apartment the water was up to my knees," she told 12 News.

Beahan remembers the rain ravaging her brand new Corolla.

"I walked over to my car as soon as I looked at it, I started hysterically crying," she added.

Like any 19-year-old, she admits the first thing she did during the storm of the century was call her folks.

"I called my dad, he's like call school, but I couldn't go to school anyway because it was canceled all the freeways were closed," she said.

Several inches of rain fell, flooding every road. She said everywhere you looked a street was flooded.

"It was insane, I've never seen us close every freeway, I remember the 60 being closed, I remember the 10 being closed, we couldn't go anywhere," Beahan added.

Valley highways were completely underwater, stranding drivers and even school buses were soaked and swimming in the streets. Plus, the damage lingered long after the rain stopped.

"It took like a week for it to dry and be able to use it and it smelled terrible, it smelled like rainwater on old fabric or like a dirty dog or something," she added.

Wouldn't you know it, the Corolla survived the storm and while Beahan misses the rain, she doesn't miss the monsoon moisture we saw back then.


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