Monsoon storms dump rain, blow out power across Phoenix area

PHOENIX – Monsoon storms that swept across metro Phoenix on Thursday flooded washes, knocked out power and triggered brush fires.

The first measurable rainfall of the season left 0.99 inches at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport but a neighborhood near 40th Street and Camelback Road was hit with 1½ inches. Anthem and Cave Creek also had that much.

Wind gusts reached between 40 mph to 50 mph, topping out at 56 mph at the airport.

Thousands in the Valley were still without power early Friday.

Salt River Project began giving away bags of ice around 1 a.m. at the Circle K near 69th Street and Indian School Road in Scottsdale.

An outage map showed about 200 remained without power.

Arizona Public Service said about 300 customers were without electricity. The utility said at least 11,000 didn’t have power shortly after the storm landed.

Lightning strikes set off fires in McDowell Mountain Regional Park and Tonto National Forest.

About 200 acres were burning in a remote area of the McDowell park. No evacuations were necessary yet, Arizona State Forestry said, but utility lines and communications could face a threat.

The Superstition Fire in the Tonto forest had charred about 100 acres and wasn’t a threat to homes in the area, the wildfire agency said.

The National Weather Service reported about 90,000 cloud-to-cloud lightning flashes lit up the Arizona skies during the storm.

Around 90,000 cloud to cloud lightning flashes were detected on Thursday across Arizona. #azwx pic.twitter.com/5D5LjWgya4

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) August 21, 2020

Weather service meteorologists said Friday would be less active.

Forecasts called for mostly sunny skies and some wind for the weekend, with highs from 106 degrees Friday to 109 degrees Sunday.

An excessive heat watch will go into effect Monday and Tuesday, with predicted highs of at least 112 degrees both days.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jim Cross contributed to this report.

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