Tucson’s southwest side recovers from monsoon storm

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - The damage in the area varies. Some people have little to no damage, while others have lost everything after Sunday’s storm.

Greg Hamstra who lives across the road from a mobile home destroyed by the storm.

“It was just a big, crazy gust of wind that came with the storm. Their house went and everything started flying around. Branches and everything else. My porch almost went,” Hamstra said.

Hamstra told 13 News an elderly couple lives in the home and both got out ok.

“They didn’t even come out with hardly a scratch, so there’s always that.”

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Mark Jackson cleaned up a tree that came down in his yard. But that wasn’t all he had to deal with following the storm. “All of a sudden it just shook and then it shifted us about three feet sideways. I looked out the window and his was already over. I assume it happened at the same time. So much noise going on inside, I couldn’t really hear his fall over.” Jackson said.

Jackson’s neighbor’s mobile home had been blown on its side.

Not only was it a scare for him, it was also a huge inconvenience.

“He’s actually sitting on top of the electrical box we share, so they’ve got to straighten this one before we can fix the electrical.”

Down the road, Tony and Rosenda Nanez didn’t have any major damage but have been without power since 7 p.m. last night.

“It’s uncomfortable and our food in our refrigerator I’m pretty sure, except for the freezer it’s probably good still, but the rest of it is probably not good,” Tony Nanez said.

TEP tells 13 New they don’t expect power to be restored to everyone until at least tomorrow. They said crews are working to make sure everyone stays cool.

Joseph Barrios from TEP said, “We have an ice station set up here at the AVA Amphitheater, we know it’s hot, we know customers are counting on us and we are working on repairs so that we can restore service as quickly as possible.”

You can find that ice station at the AVA Amphitheater at the Casino del Sol.

The Red Cross has also set up a cooling station center at Valencia Middle School.

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