An aerial view of a flooded area in Shiprock, New Mexico. Navajo Nation Police Department hide caption

Navajo Nation Police Department

Intense rainstorms linked to a very active El Niño-driven Pacific hurricane season have left thousands of people in the Four Corners states displaced or facing massive cleanups from flooding.

The adjoining states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona all saw substantial flooding last week, and damage assessments are just starting to trickle in from cities, towns and some of the most remote territory in the continental U.S.

The northern New Mexico city of Farmington was hit particularly hard after torrential rains fell on the San Juan mountains in Colorado, sending floodwaters down the San Juan River that passes through Farmington on its way to Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border.

San Juan River saw some of biggest surges

Small towns all along the river, from Pagosa Springs, Colorado, to Bloomfield, New Mexico and Bluff, Utah all saw historic flooding and are now…