Thousands go without power in areas of the Valley as a storm rolls through
PHOENIX - Thousands of Arizona residents were without power in several areas of the state as a thunderstorm rolled through on Monday, Jan. 25.
Some areas that were without power included Phoenix, Peoria, Glendale, Mesa and Tempe.
A majority of the outages were for residents who have Arizona Public Supply (APS). Salt River Project also had thousands of residents without power.
At the beginning of the outage, around 2 p.m., more than 20,000 people were impacted.
At 31st Avenue and Union Hills, there was a mess of downed powerlines with a constant sound of chain saws Monday night. The sight is true for nearly everywhere in the Valley since winds reached above 30 mph in some areas, knocking trees over too.
"Dude. This just this crack boom, I mean it was really like pretty, like whoa, you know?" Zath Streamland said, whose home suffered downed powerlines.
"We noticed that limb come down and smack the top of the house so it kind of went bop, you know, and bounce back up," Streamland said.
"We’re seeing poles that were in the middle of the road. We saw of course lines, poles completely split in half," said Lily Quezada with APS.
Phoenix resident, Louis Palacios, says, "This is the worst I’ve ever seen," about the storm damage. He couldn’t believe everyone was OK after seeing his neighbor's apartment at 15th Avenue and Camelback Road.
"It just sounded like a big boom, like something smacked really loud outside I didn’t know what the hell it was," Palacios said.
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Winter Storm Warning in effect for northern Arizona; rain, hail reported across the Valley
The metro Phoenix area is seeing rain and hail, while northern Arizona has seen at least 7 to 9 inches of snow over the weekend.
Quezada says APS works hard to restore power when it goes down.
"Anytime you experience an outage it is an inconvenience so we completely understand that. We are working as quickly and as safely as possible," she said.
View the outage map for APS here. View the outage map for SRP here.
Preparing for a severe thunderstorm
- The American Red Cross' tips for preparing for a severe thunderstorm:
- Put together an emergency kit.
- Know your community’s evacuation plan.
- Create a household disaster plan and practice it.
- Purchase a battery-powered or hand-crank radio
- Discuss thunderstorm safety with members of your household. Be aware that a thunderstorm could produce flooding.
- Pick a safe place in your home for household members to gather during a thunderstorm. This should be a place where there are no windows, skylights, or glass doors, which could be broken by strong winds or hail and cause damage or injury.
You can check the latest weather conditions by visiting the FOX 10 Phoenix weather page, or download the Free FOX 10 Weather app, which is available on Apple iOS and Android.