Thousands Lose Power As Monsoon Storms Sweep Across Metro Phoenix

PHOENIX, AZ — Thousands of Valley residents woke up without power Tuesday after early morning monsoon storms swept across metro Phoenix, bringing lightning, heavy rain and hazardous travel conditions.

The storms rolled into the Valley before dawn, with rain beginning before 4 a.m. and another round moving through around 7 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.

Cloud-to-ground lightning sparked several tree fires in the East Valley, while heavy rain and thunder slowed the morning commute across parts of metro Phoenix.

Arizona Public Service reported several outages Tuesday morning, including:

• A Phoenix outage affecting 476 customers between Turney Avenue and Devonshire Avenue and 20th Street to 22nd Street, with power expected to be restored by 10:30 a.m.
• Another 166 customers lost power near Beatrice Street, Van Buren Street, 40th Street and 42nd Street, with restoration estimated by 10:10 a.m.
• Smaller outages were reported in central and north Phoenix, Buckeye and Pirtleville.

Salt River Project also reported a separate outage affecting more than 1,300 customers in Mesa after power lines came down around 4:14 a.m. Crews estimated power would be restored by about noon.

The National Weather Service said isolated thunderstorms will continue moving through south-central Arizona Tuesday morning, bringing the potential for cloud-to-ground lightning, brief heavy downpours and slick roads. Drivers were urged to slow down and use caution during the morning commute.

The unsettled weather is expected to continue through the week, although the best chances for afternoon and evening thunderstorms will remain over the higher terrain of northern and southeastern Arizona.

Storm chances across the Phoenix metro and other lower desert communities are expected to stay relatively low.

Despite the clouds and rain, temperatures are still expected to reach 107 to 110 degrees Tuesday afternoon, remaining several degrees above normal before climbing higher later this week.

Customers can check outage updates and estimated restoration times through APS and SRP's online outage maps.