Flagstaff will receive more than $2 million to build detention basins for flooding on its west side as the mountain town continues being pummeled with heavy monsoon rains.

The Natural Resource Conservation Service is providing $2.4 million for detention basins work in the Schultz Creek area. That’s the area of Flagstaff that saw severe flooding during Wednesday’s storms. More than 1,000 acres of the creek’s watershed that naturally slow water draining off the forest were destroyed in the Pipeline Fire last month. 

"We’re going to have a much slower, less violent flow that will stay within the channel. But it will take longer obviously than a very intense flood pulse," said Ed Schenk, Flagstaff’s stormwater manager.

The detention basin is intended to release water back into the creek rather than flooding area neighborhoods, including the city's southside community and downtown Flagstaff.