A storm that swept through much of Phoenix metropolitan this weekend has left many residents stranded and without power as it fell trees, traffic lights and damaged Terminal 2 at the SKY Harbor International Airport.
Heavy thunder strikes accompanied by rain and strong winds left part of Nevada afloat and caused 40 scheduled SKY Harbor flights to be delayed for hours.
Reports indicate that over 50,000 residents were without power during the storm. The most affected areas with the power cuts were west and northwest Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa and Tempe.
Salt River Project utility reported that 31,000 of its customers experienced power outage, while APS recorded 46,000 affected customers.
According to AP, the Salt River Project utility has revealed that only 800 are still without electricity. However, power is expected to be restored in few hours to these residents.
The strength of the wind also caused several flights - about 40 departures and landings scheduled for the Phoenix Sky Harbor - to be delayed or diverted to other airports.
The wind caused some damage to the roof of Terminal 2 in the baggage claim area and in some of the gate area. However, all three terminals at Sky Harbor are operational," according to Julie Rodriquez, spokeswoman for the airport.
Sky Habor has since announced the resumption of flights.
Although no causalities have been recorded, reports from the Phoenix Fire Department indicate that about 700 people made weather-related distress calls to the cops. Reports indicate that officers responded to at least 33 potentially dangerous situations, which includes trees falling on vehicles, road blocks, gas leaks and minor electric accidents among others.
Meanwhile, local sources say Phoenix firefighters are using cell-phone signals to track a woman who got lost while hiking with her dog.
According to Phoenix Fire Capt. Benjamin Santillan, the woman is believed to have been hiking in the south of Phoenix when it started raining.
So far about 1.6 inches of rain has been recorded. National Weather Service meteorologist Valerie Meyers says this exceeds the previous record of 1.46 inches in 1903.
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