Storms slam the Foothills again
by Kathleen Stinson

DESERT FOOTHILLS – The heavy rains that hit the Cave Creek and Carefree area Saturday night knocked out power and forced two road closures.

The thunderstorm, the second in 10 days, damaged an electrical pole at about 11:43 p.m. cutting off  power to 30 customers in the area of Blue Wash Road, Humbolt Mountain and Cave Creek Road, said Rufus Coleman, spokesman for Arizona Public Service Company.

Crews responding to the outage discovered the pole was on fire. Colemen was uncertain as to the cause of the fire.

Power was restored at 12:54 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, Coleman said.

Between 10‑11 p.m. on Saturday, the thunderstorm traveled into the area from the north, causing heavy rainfall at a rate of 1‑1.5 inches per hour, according to Valerie Meyers, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, Phoenix.

The rainfall, which lasted about 40 minutes, flooded into area creek beds and arroyos, causing a flash flood warning to be issued shortly before midnight, Meyers said. About three inches of rain was recorded at Cave Buttes Damn and .67 of an inch at Carefree Ranch.

The downpour also washed out Bartlett Lake Road at Camp Creek on Saturday night, and Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies assisted a small group of campers out of the area. Bartlett Lake Road was closed Saturday night due to debris and damage caused by the storm, said Julie Syrmopoulos, public information officer for the Maricopa County Department of Transportation. Horseshoe Road was also closed because of its proximity to the Bartlett Lake Road closing.

Syrmopoulos said county road crews, depending on the weather, estimated they might be able to reopen the roads  by Tuesday afternoon.

Reach the reporter at kathleen@thedesertadvocate.com.