scrambling to cover the cost. and the swimmer defying the odds and inspiring america. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good evening, everyone when it rains it pours, but rarely like this tonight, an unraveling emergency continues to unfold across swaths of the southwest as severe flooding leaves several areas under water or caked in mud. in texas, arizona, and new mexico fast rising floodwaters triggered some harrowing rescues and shut down major thoroughfares. dallas coming off its second longest dry spell ever, 67 straight days without rain only to now be facing what weather experts say is a 1,000-year flood east of dallas, storm totals approaching 15 inches downtown dallas more than 12 1/2. at dfw airport 7.8 inches of rain falling in just 3 hours. now even as the weather system moves eastward, rain is still in the forecast for some hard-hit areas. miguel almaguer has a look at what they re facing reporter: the record rainfall in cities like
days we are hopefu that we are going to find her that s the hope i still have in us so reporter: tonight record rain across the southwest and now the heartbreak and misery to match it. miguel, these pictures are absolutely stunning. what connection to climate change might they have? reporter: lester, these larger storms certainly have all the hallmarks of climate change as we have hotter days the atmosphere can hold more water making the monster storms a more common reality. it s a tale of dangerous extremes drought and flooding during the same season lester miguel almaguer tonight, thank you those storms are still on the move this evening. meteorologist dylan dreyer is tracking it for us what s it look like? we are going to get a break in dallas, but keep in mind, all of that water is still soaking into the ground and it s kind of a clay type of ground so that doesn t absorb the water so quickly and we still have flash flood warnings in effect and this area have the flash
eastward, rain is still in the forecast for some hard-hit areas. miguel almaguer has a look at what they re facing reporter: the record rainfall in cities like dallas triggered hundreds of emergency rescues across the region. before sunrise, commuters were swimming from their cars to reach higher ground firefighters pulling drivers to safety as a wave of murk floodwater washed over roads like interstate 30 i m going to drown in this car. i had to kick this door out just to get out of the car reporter: the harrowing rescues came as fast as the water did. just outside dallas more than 13 inches of rain in 12 hours let s hope the people in the middle got out because that was really, really deep. reporter: the 1 in 1,000 year rain event snapping the city s second longest dry streak with almost half a year s average rainfall in just hours we couldn t stop
it we put down towels and it just overtook our living room. reporter: from drought to deluge, tonight the southwest is facing a wave of problems after too much water too fast. amid scenes like these in new mexico, rapid rainfall also washed out a road leading to carlsbad caverns wow look at it go across the road, man. reporter: some 200 visitors were trapped there over the weekend. they re going to put them on the back of the truck. reporter: after children were rescued from a school bus in arizona today the city of duncan is facing mass evacuations over the border in utah where this was the scene at zion national park, the search is under way for jental agnihotri who was washed away with this hiker before he was miraculously rescued. i was doing everything i could to just rip him out thank god there was a couple of other people there to grab me that came afterward reporter: but for now there remains no sign of the 29-year-old. even after three
challenges are the point and that s why on friday morning rob leapt again from a boat into waters so cold it gives you a headache. swimmer in the water. there s no inspiration like having been paralyzed. reporter: the friend who pulled him from the water when he was first paralyze joined him from the last few feet, but rob emerged on his own the image of alcatraz as a prison and the feeling and experience of bein paralyzed it feels like being in prison, and it seems like a fitting, hopefully for me, an end to the story. jake ward, nbc news, san francisco. what a journey. don t tell him he can t do anything. that s nightly news for this monday. thank you for watching, everyone i m lester holt. please take care of yourself and each other. good night