Phoenix Monsoon Leaves Thousands Without Power: Photos

PHOENIX, AZ — Residents and businesses are cleaning up Tuesday after 50 mph monsoon winds created a wall of dust that enveloped the Valley of the Sun and produced sheets of rain that grounded or delayed dozens of flights and damaged property. Monday’s storm was the second in as many days in the Phoenix area as the monsoon season gets underway.

In Phoenix, the storm ripped apart a 40-yard stretch of ax hotel roof and tore off part of a apartment complex, tossing it onto the roofs of cars parked below. About 20 people were temporarily displaced, and one person in a car when the roof blew off sustained minor injuries..

In Mesa, the Cielo Grande Mobile Home Park was significantly damaged, and a 70-year-old man was briefly trapped in his home after a tree fell on it. He was taken to a local hospital and was in stable condition.

(Get Phoenix Patch's real-time news alerts and free morning news letters. Like us on Facebook. Also, download the free Patch iPhone app or free Patch Android app.)

“Others have lost parts of their mobile, some of them have lost parts of the home so I’m just thankful it wasn’t any worse than it was," Audrey Burklund, an elderly resident at the Cielo Grande mobile home park, told television station KPHO. “I was concerned. I wasn’t scared. At 90 years old, you don't get scared anymore, you’re ready to go.”

The monsoon knocked out power to tens of thousands of residents across the Valley.

In Phoenix, 2,165 customers still didn’t have power in pockets across the Valley, Arizona Public Service Electric Company said. The utility reminded customers that food can stay cold for hours as long as refrigerator and freezer doors remain closed. People who do need to buy ice during the outage can submit receipts for up to 40 pounds of wet or 20 pounds of dry ice.

Because so many power poles were snapped, and it’s unclear when the Salt River Project will be able to completely restore power, according to utility spokesman Jeff Lane, who told the Arizona Republic crews are working “as quickly as possible” to restore power across the Valley. Customers can pick up a 10-pound bag of ice for free at QuikTrip locations at 517 W. McKellips Road and 1141 S. Crimson Road in Mesa.

More thunderstorms are in the forecast through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

Here are some images and video from Twitter:

Lead photo via APS Electric Company