DESERT FOOTHILLS – The wind and rain storm that struck the Cave Creek and Carefree area late Friday afternoon knocked out electricity to thousands of residents, several area traffic signals, and it disrupted telephone service.

The storm, which hit portions of both communities, also disrupted water service to more than 2,000 residents.

 “It was the first major storm of the monsoon season to impact APS service in the Valley,” said Arizona Public Service spokes‑man Alan Bunnell.

At approximately 4 p.m. on Friday, a storm pounded the area causing more than 16,000 Arizona Public Service customers to lose power, said APS spokesman Will Diaz.

“Crews were out round the clock but a number of the (electrical poles) wires the storm blew down were in rugged terrain,” Diaz said.

Power was not fully restored to all customers until 8 p.m. on Saturday, Diaz said.

The storm cut power to several traffic signals along Carefree Highway for about a half hour, said Maricopa County Sheriff’s Sgt. D.R. Harvey. Sheriff’s deputies and volunteers directed traffic until power was restored. There were no other safety problems or reported accidents as a result of the storm, Harvey said.

CommWorld, a telephone company, reported only three of their commercial customers in the area lost telephone service, said Deborah Depiero, a spokes‑woman for the company. The Desert Advocate was among those commercial customers affected. Telephone service was not restored until about 1 p.m. Monday.

One of four area water pump stations along Cave Creek Road lost power when the APS lines failed, according to a news release from APS.

 By 1:00 a.m. Saturday, power was restored to that station and by 3:30 a.m., water was refilling the tanks in the distribution system, bringing the system back to full pressure, the release stated.

About 2,480 customers temporarily were affected by the power loss at the pump station, APS reported.

Reach the reporter at kathleen@thedesertadvocate.com.