A “microburst” storm remnant of Hurricane Priscilla hit Tempe, Arizona, on Monday, October 13. At the the intersection of West 13th Street and South Ash Avenue, father-son team used a U-Haul to drag eucalyptus limbs from the street, and members of Arizona State University’s Sigma Chi fraternity stepped up to finish the job.
“We’ve had two 100-year storms in a week,” former mayor to Tempe, Neil Giuliano told me as he directed cars to avoid a blocked railroad crossing. A Waymo driverless vehicle had already become stuck beyond him.
Javier Bernault had watched from inside his house as the roof was ripped from his carport, being flung into his back yard.
The half-century-old tree outside Jeri Thompson’s house fell mercifully into the road, crushing the fence of a neighbor across the street. The whole neighborhood came out to help clean up, bringing hand tools and grit. “It’s so nice to see the young people helping out,” Thompson told me.
A half inch of rain fell within 10 minutes, according to the National Weather Service. Everyone I spoke to that afternoon, including residents of the Phoenix Valley for decades, said they’d never seen anything like it.
