Monday Monsoon Causes Traffic, Power Issues For Valley

Another dust storm and thunderstorm blew through the Phoenix metropolitan area last night, after heavy rain fell on many parts of western Arizona . Winds from the approaching storm system around sundown pushed a hazy brown cloud over most of the Valley. There were reports of some downed power lines and trees in Tempe , but no immediate reports of any injuries. The National Weather Service in Phoenix says, moisture from tropical storm Ivo has been combining with monsoon moisture and heating from the sun to create the storms. Chris Outler of the Flagstaff weather service office says there were some heavy storms there.

“It’s a very deep moisture source,” Outler said. “It’s a little bit different of an environment, though. The kind of activity that we saw in July was more traditional monsoon activities, whereas this is kind of a deep moisture surge thanks to a tropical system.”

Flooding from the storm caused some traffic issues in the Valley, shutting down the U-S 60 near Mill Avenue for a time. And, fallen power lines cut off power to thousands of Phoenix-area residents, but most of them have seen their electricity restored. Damon Gross, a spokesman for APS, says only 43 APS customers, all located in Gila Bend, remain without power,

“In a storm like this, typically it’s the high winds that cause the most damage,” Gross said. “So, we had some wire down and some poles that needed to be replaced or repaired.”

Fallen power lines have also left 100 remaining SRP customers without power. They're scattered throughout the Valley, according to spokeswoman Patty Garcia-Likens, who says the hope is to have power to all the homes restored by 8 this morning.