Thousands in Pinal County still cut off from power after storm damage

PHOENIX – Over 7,000 power customers south of metro Phoenix were still unplugged Tuesday, after monsoon storms brought down transmission towers and lines earlier this week.

Arizona Public Service’s outage map showed about 7,100 customers in the the Eloy-Arizona City area of Pinal County remained without electricity.

The state’s largest public utility said crews had been working through the night to restore power.

A spokesman said in a social media post shortly before 8:30 a.m. Tuesday that 2,400 customers in Eloy were back online.

Crew shift changes. We will keep working until every last customer is restored. Half of @CityofEloy back on! ~2400 @apsFYI customers restored. Thanks for patience. More ice coming for Az City later this morning. pic.twitter.com/g58SOEowVp

— Richard Rosales (@APS_Rich) July 19, 2022

State Rep. Teresa Martinez (R-Casa Grande) said at the worst of the outage about 20,000 didn’t have power in the sweltering heat. Temperatures came close to 110 degrees on Monday.

“About 11,000 in Arizona City and probably 9,000-10,000 in the Eloy-Toltec area,” Martinez told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Tuesday.

“Hopefully, they’ll have the power on [Wednesday]. They’ve been working around the clock.”

Two cooling centers opened in Eloy – Toltec Middle School, 3315 N. Toltec Road; and Santa Cruz Valley Union High School at 900 N. Main St. Both sites are accepting domestic pets if they are in crates.

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday evening declared a State of Emergency related to the storm damage and power outages in Eloy and Arizona City.

Pinal County officials estimated power will be fully restored by 1 a.m. Wednesday, according to a municipal webpage.

Eloy is about 65 miles south of downtown Phoenix; Arizona City is about 7 miles west of Eloy.

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