Monsoon 2023 knocks over record number of power poles

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - Monsoon 2023 ends September 30th and we’re getting a closer look at how damaging storms were for Tucson Electric Power.

TEP says so far 275 poles have come down in 2023, most of those in June and July. That’s compared to 177 in 2021, and 85 in 2022.

One of those hard hit areas was in the foothills along Campbell, just north of Skyline. More than 15 poles were knocked over and have since been replaced with metal ones.

That’s something leaders say will become more common throughout town. TEP says repairs are always happening in different spots throughout Tucson.

Crews are now working on coming up with ideas for quicker fixes to have your power back up while they might need to get your whole neighborhood running again.

“We understand just how hot it is during the summer as our folks are working out in the heat trying to get the heat back on,” spokesman for TEP Joseph Barrios said. “We do look at where storms occur, where damage occurs and we try to prioritize what sort of improvement we can make to avoid those problems in the future.”

Leaders say they can dig a hole and get a new pole in the ground in as little as half-an-hour, but one issue they ran into in some spots during monsoon was the rocky ground.

That’s something they say they weren’t ready for, but now they’re seeing if it’s something they can work around in case it happens again.

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