The storm was powerful enough to attract national news coverage. CNN reported that the storm was over 70 miles wide, 10,000 feet high and featured winds as high as 75 to 85 miles per hour.
South of Maricopa, Pinal County Public Works crews were dispatched to clear debris that had blown into the roads, said Joe Pyritz, public information officer for Pinal County.
The area of Silverbell Estates and Arizona City received some temporary road flooding from rainfall, but water reportedly subsided soon after the storm passed. North of Marana, crews placed barricades up on Park Link Drive, Camino Adelante and Missile Base Road due to flooding, but the barricades were removed by Wednesday morning, Pyritz said.
In Casa Grande, there were reports of debris in roads, downed street signs and damage to some traffic signals, said Augustin Avalos, public information officer. Only drops of rain fell in Casa Grande.
The storm caused about 15 fire alarm system activations and resulted in a few calls for emergency services throughout the city, Jim Morgan, Casa Grande assistant fire chief, said.
Arizona Public Service Co. customers did not lose power due to the storm, and Jenna Shaver, a spokeswoman for the company, said that all lines were intact.
About 5,100 customers of Electrical District 3 in the Maricopa area were left without power for a few hours after winds and debris loosened connections, causing outages, said Tony Solano, system operations manager.
“We had 12 circuits opened because of winds,” Solano said.
Customers without power were located throughout the district and most had electrical service returned by midnight.
Solano said the first reports of power outages were received by about 7:15 p.m. The company deployed crews, but their job was made difficult due to near-zero visibility, winds and rain.
“They started troubleshooting and then the rains started,” he said.
The storm did not knock down any power lines or poles in ED3, but Wednesday morning crews were adjusting a few poles that were leaning, according to Solano.
Gusting winds and dust may have been a factor in at least one traffic accident. Eastbound lanes on Interstate 8 near Bianco Road were closed for several hours Tuesday evening after an empty semi-trailer truck was overturned and blocked traffic. The driver reportedly had minor injuries and weather was believed to be the primary factor in the accident, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
No other major accidents were reported due to the storm.
“We surprisingly did not have a lot of incidents due to the dust storm last night. I suspect it was due to the fast-moving nature of the storm,” DPS Media Relations Coordinator Bart Graves said.
The Phoenix Valley also was hit by high winds, where an amateur weather station measured one gust at 81 mph.
tags: dust storm, arizona city, pinal
