Around 70,000 Residents Suffer Power Outages after Monsoon Storm Strikes Phoenix Area
Residents around Phoenix suffered from power outages after a monsoon struck over the weekend. According to a report by US News on Tuesday, approximately 70,000 residents - mostly customers of the two main utility companies - were affected. Figures went down to 37,800 on Tuesday morning.
Salt River Project (SRP) said they would bring back power to most customers on Tuesday afternoon. The Arizona Public Service Co. also said the same thing, though restoration could take longer for some.
According to the National Weather Service, the monsoon started moving on Monday afternoon and was felt in Tempe, Scottsdale and central Phoenix. The monsoon brought lightning and strong winds at 65 mph, dropping around 1.5 inches of rain. But severe storms started on Saturday, affecting the East Valley.
Roads were temporarily closed in some areas where flood was visible after hours of heavy rain.
"Last night Mother Nature did a number on our city," Mayor Greg Stanton stated.
The National Weather Service alerted some areas for possible flash flood on Monday night in areas like downtown Phoenix, Tempe, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Papago Park and Tempe Campus of Arizona State University.
The outages didn't only affect households, but also institutions and businesses. AZ Central published an article on Sunday, reporting that electrical poles in Stapley Drive and Southern Avenue were down due to the storm on Saturday.
"We're anxious to get power to those affected as quickly as possible," stated Kathleen Mascarenas, a spokesperson for SRP.
Meanwhile, St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance's main warehouse had to borrow refrigerated trucks to distribute its perishable products to the people.
"We're going to lose stuff because it's too hot, but we're going to save as much as we can," spokesperson Jerry Brown said. "This is a race against time."
The monsoon was felt hard in Mesa over the weekend. Trees fell down because of strong winds, blocking some areas, particularly the roads in Chandler - near the Desert Breeze Park. Some 13,000 residents experienced power outage on Saturday.
Mesa Fire spokesman Dean Morales said that residents who are affected by the power outage were given an option to stay at the Mesa Inter-Stake Center for water and air conditioning.