Arizona man recovered after being swept away by floodwaters due to tragic decision

Flash flooding seems to be a growing problem.

People are starting to ask questions about what’s really going on.

But this Arizona father was just recovered after being swept away by floodwaters due to one tragic decision.

Father of two never made it home

Vincent Upton, 42, was traveling early Sunday morning on October 12 through an area near Goodyear where there’s only one way in and one way out.¹

Heavy rain from the remnants of Tropical Storm Priscilla had been pounding the Phoenix area for days, turning normally dry desert washes into raging torrents.²

Around 3:30 a.m., someone called 911 about a truck attempting to cross the flowing floodwaters near 214th Avenue and Narramore Road in the Rainbow Valley area.³

By the time Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies arrived 30 minutes later, they found Upton’s white pickup truck – but the father of two was already gone.⁴

The truck sat heavily damaged in the water with the windshield kicked out.⁵

Upton had managed to escape the vehicle before it was completely overtaken.

But the swift-moving water proved too powerful.

"The windshield was kicked out, so he did get out of the vehicle," Arbell Rose, who discovered the truck in the wash, told ABC15.⁶

That desperate escape attempt would be the last time anyone saw Vincent Upton alive.

Massive search operation launched in difficult terrain

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office immediately launched one of the largest search operations the area had seen.⁷

The search involved the sheriff’s office command staff, five search and rescue coordinators, four drone pilots, multiple deputies, a flood control specialist, a K-9 crew, and nearly two dozen volunteer posse members from different branches.⁸

They were searching treacherous terrain in the middle of a historic weather event.

Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport had just recorded 1.97 inches of rain on Sunday – breaking the daily record and marking the rainiest day since October 2018.⁹

The ground was completely saturated from days of continuous rainfall, meaning even light rain created instant runoff and flash flooding.¹⁰

National Weather Service forecasters warned that as little as half an inch of additional precipitation could trigger more flash floods.¹¹

For more than 36 hours, search crews combed through the difficult landscape looking for any sign of Upton.

His family waited desperately for news.

"He’s a great father, great husband," Benjamin Santana, Upton’s best friend, told FOX 10.¹²

Friends described a man who was "the life of the party, always making everyone laugh and joking."¹³

"He is a force to be reckoned with, that’s for sure," Jamie Williams, another friend, told ABC15.¹⁴

On Monday afternoon around 1:20 p.m., search crews finally located Upton’s body "a considerable distance from the found vehicle."¹⁵

The difficult terrain and incoming weather complicated the recovery operation, forcing the Sheriff’s Office to use their aviation unit to extract his body from the location.¹⁶

The infrastructure problem nobody wants to talk about

Upton’s death exposes a critical infrastructure failure that residents in the area have been complaining about for years.

The Rainbow Valley/Waterman Wash area has exactly one route in and one route out – meaning when floods hit, residents face an impossible choice.

Stay trapped on the wrong side of the wash and miss work, or risk crossing dangerous floodwaters to get home.

Williams explained the impossible situation to ABC15: residents have no alternative routes, so when flooding blocks Waterman Wash, they’re forced to either attempt dangerous crossings or remain stranded without access to work or home.¹⁷

The area desperately needs better road infrastructure, he said.¹⁸

The infrastructure problem isn’t new.

The broader Buckeye area has been one of the fastest-growing regions in America, with the city exploding from roughly 8,000 residents 25 years ago to nearly 120,000 today.¹⁹

City planning documents anticipate the population could reach 1 million to 1.5 million if all master planned communities are fully built out.²⁰

But the infrastructure hasn’t kept pace with the explosive growth in western Maricopa County.

In 2023, Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema announced $4.57 million in federal funding for Buckeye’s Storm Water Flooding Mitigation Improvement Project.²¹

The project was supposed to connect drainage systems to existing irrigation canals and build floodwater retention basins.²²

That was over two years ago.

The funding was meant to protect residents during 10-year storm events and improve road safety.²³

Vincent Upton’s death proves those improvements either didn’t happen fast enough or didn’t address the most dangerous areas where residents actually live.

And it’s not surprising when so much federal pork spending is basically just siphoned off.

The deadly pattern Arizona refuses to fix

Upton’s death fits a pattern that’s been killing Arizonans for decades.

Research shows that more than 86% of flood fatalities nationwide involve people purposely driving or walking into floodwaters – meaning the vast majority of these deaths are completely preventable.²⁴

Vehicle-related flood deaths are so common in Arizona that the state legislature passed the "Stupid Motorist" law (statute 28-910) to penalize drivers who ignore barricades and attempt to cross flooded areas.²⁵

The law sounds harsh until you understand the reality: most flood deaths occur in vehicles, and it only takes 12 inches of moving water to sweep a car away.²⁶

Just six inches of fast-moving water can knock an adult off their feet.²⁷

Two feet of moving water can easily carry a vehicle downstream.²⁸

Arizona has had 59 flash flood warnings so far in 2025, with 18 resulting in verified flash floods.²⁹

But those numbers only tell part of the story.

The week before Upton’s death, catastrophic flooding killed at least four other people in Arizona communities like Globe and Miami.³⁰

Three people died in Globe alone when a "wall of water" engulfed roads in just 20 minutes.³¹

Officials described damage as "something we could never even imagine."³²

The flooding from October 11-13 came from remnants of Hurricane Priscilla combining with additional tropical moisture to dump 2 to 4 inches of rain across central Arizona.³³

Some areas recorded up to 6 inches.³⁴

Climate patterns are driving more frequent and severe flooding events across the Southwest, with 2025 seeing the most flash flood warnings nationwide for any year since records began in 1986.³⁵

Family left picking up the pieces

A GoFundMe page was created to help Upton’s family cover unexpected funeral costs.³⁶

The fundraising page describes Upton as a devoted family man who would drop everything to help others – someone reliable with an outsized personality and generous heart.³⁷

His loved ones are clinging to the memories and love he gave them as they process their devastating loss.³⁸

Upton leaves behind a wife and children who will never see him walk through the door again.

All because he tried to cross a wash that should have had a bridge or alternate route years ago.

The infrastructure money was allocated for nearby areas.

The problem was identified.

But Vincent Upton still died trying to get across a flooded road that trapped him between safety and his destination.

That’s not a natural disaster – that’s a government failure with a body count.

¹ "Body of missing man swept away in flooding near Goodyear found, officials say," ABC15, October 13, 2025.

² "Life-Threatening Flash Floods Hit Arizona: Live Tracker Maps," Newsweek, October 10, 2025.

³ Kylie Werner, "MCSO locates body of man swept away by water in Goodyear," KTAR News, October 13, 2025.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ "Body of missing man swept away in flooding near Goodyear found," ABC15.

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Charna Flam, "Missing Man’s Body Recovered After He Was Swept Away By Floodwaters," PEOPLE, October 14, 2025.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ "Arizona weather forecast: Flash flood threats remain high," Yahoo News, October 13, 2025.

¹⁰ "Flash Floods Prompt Rescues and Road Closures Amid Phoenix’s Heaviest Rainfall Since 2018," Hoodline, October 13, 2025.

¹¹ Ibid.

¹² "Search continues for missing man in Rainbow Valley floods," FOX 10 Phoenix, October 12, 2025.

¹³ Flam, "Missing Man’s Body Recovered."

¹⁴ "Body of missing man swept away in flooding near Goodyear found," ABC15.

¹⁵ Flam, "Missing Man’s Body Recovered."

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ "Body of missing man swept away in flooding near Goodyear found," ABC15.

¹⁸ Ibid.

¹⁹ Brett Walton, "At Phoenix’s Far Edge, a Housing Boom Grasps for Water," Circle of Blue, April 29, 2025.

²⁰ Ibid.

²¹ "Kelly, Sinema Announce $49 Million for Apache Junction, Buckeye Flood Mitigation Projects," Senator Mark Kelly press release, September 6, 2023.

²² Ibid.

²³ Ibid.

²⁴ "Analysis of Flood Fatalities in the United States, 1959–2019," MDPI Water Journal, July 5, 2021.

²⁵ "Floods," Arizona Geological Survey, July 31, 2017.

²⁶ "Desert Southwest braces for heavy rain, potential dangerous flash floods from dual tropical remnants," Fox Weather, October 10, 2025.

²⁷ "Flood Safety," Pinal County, Arizona government website.

²⁸ Ibid.

²⁹ "Arizona flash floods are relatively rare, but there’s still a risk," Axios Phoenix, July 22, 2025.

³⁰ Tim Stelloh, Katie Wall, Erick Mendoza, and Dennis Romero, "At least 4 dead as torrential flooding hits Arizona," NBC News, September 27, 2025.

³¹ "Volunteers descend on Arizona towns hit by catastrophic flooding," FOX 10 Phoenix, September 29, 2025.

³² Stelloh, Wall, Mendoza, and Romero, "At least 4 dead."

³³ "Desert Southwest braces for heavy rain," Fox Weather.

³⁴ Ibid.

³⁵ "Arizona flash floods are relatively rare," Axios Phoenix.

³⁶ Flam, "Missing Man’s Body Recovered."

³⁷ Ibid.

³⁸ Ibid.