Tempe neighborhood slammed by powerful storms
A neighborhood in Tempe was hit hard by Monday’s storms, with trees being ripped from the ground and significant damage to cars and the roofs of neighbors’ homes. FOX 10’s Lindsey Ragas reports.
TEMPE, Ariz. – A microburst in Tempe caused a lot of damage to a neighborhood during Monday’s severe weather.
What we know:
Large trees were down all throughout Dwight Park near Southern Avenue and Kyrene Road, as trees were getting ripped out of the ground. Even a soccer field looked more like a pond.
Damage was seen throughout the whole neighborhood, which was also dealing with a power outage.
Everything from large trees on the ground, to back patio covers down in the driveway, cinder block walls in pieces, and to air conditioning units that were once on the roof knocked over on the ground. A trampoline that was once in the backyard now sits in someone’s driveway.
Many people saw roof and car damage in the neighborhood. Neighbors who were home when this quick storm hit around 1:30 p.m. described the chaos.
By the numbers:
In a statement released by Tempe city officials following the storm, they said about 10,000 people are expected to be without power until 8:00 p.m., citing power companies SRP and APS.
In addition, city officials said more than 130 people were displaced when several apartment buildings were severely damaged.
“The City of Tempe and the American Red Cross are providing a temporary emergency shelter at Escalante Multi-Generational Center, 2150 E Orange St. Anyone who needs a place to go due to the storm may go there and get assistance,” read a portion of the statement.
“We heard the windows start rattling,” said Janet Manegold. “My daughter and I are home. We heard a big bang out here, so we actually moved into the hallway because of how much the windows were rattling. It only lasted 5 or 10 minutes tops, and then it was pretty much done, but then when we walked outside to see what happened, our fences are out in the backyard, our giant trees are down. We are so thankful it didn’t hit anybody’s home or car. It took out a neighbor’s mailbox, but all in all we’re super thankful it didn’t hurt anybody, but we have a big mess.”
“About 1:30 a sudden flash storm came through. It maybe lasted about 10 minutes, and it was a ridiculous amount of rain and the only reason I was aware of it [was] I heard the wind inside the house and saw one of our trees fall onto our house, and then we looked outside and, oh my goodness, it was ridiculous,” Myriam Nema said. “Ten minutes later we came out and we saw all the trees have fallen down.”
Dig deeper:
The microburst also hit the Sentry Apartments near Southern and Mill avenues pretty hard, ripping a tree out of the ground and onto a building. The fallen tree crushed the side of an apartment unit, making several apartments uninhabitable.
“Out of everywhere else around here it seems like our little complex was struck worse than all other areas I saw in Tempe so far,” Sarah Burkhart, a mother of a young child said.
Burkhart was napping when she heard a loud strike and saw it was pouring rain outside. Half an hour latter, her apartment was without power.
“I end up hearing from my neighbors that our building was struck from behind. A huge tree had collapsed on the building. Completely demolished one of the staircases. People had to be evacuated by the firefighters ladder and that it was about to be closed off,” Burkhart said.
Roughly 130 people were displaced. A shelter has been set up at 2150 East Orange Street in Tempe.
Map of the storm damage location.
The Source: This information was gathered by FOX 10’s Lindsey Ragas.