Arizona is being hit by a massive monsoon that left Phoenix battered by torrential rains and lashed by winds that uprooted trees and destroyed planes – days after breaking the heatwave record of 110°F
A monsoon swept through parts of Arizona on Tuesday evening, drenching Phoenix and unleashing winds that toppled power lines and flipped planes onto their sides.
The heavy rains came three days after Phoenix set a new heat record. On Saturday, the temperature reached 110°F (about 45°C), reaching that mark on 54 days this year.
Tuesday’s monsoon didn’t bring large amounts of rain – as of 8 a.m. Wednesday, Horseshoe Lake had recorded 2.32 inches in the previous 24 hours, while one spot in Mesa had recorded 2.13 inches – but it fell in a short period of time and flooded Arizona residents.
Videos shared on social media showed downed power lines, falling trees and people seeking shelter from the storm.
At the peak of the outages, more than 32,000 electricity customers were without power on Tuesday night.
A palm tree was observed falling in Phoenix on Tuesday evening
Wild storms with strong winds raged across Arizona on Tuesday evening
An upside down airplane is pictured at Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona
On Tuesday, a helicopter company facility was damaged in Mesa, Arizona
More than an inch of rain fell on the runway at Falcon Field in Mesa, but after the storm passed, planes could be seen overturning and buildings being torn apart.
One person shared a video on social media showing a palm tree being uprooted and falling on parked cars.
No one was injured during the storm, but flash flood warnings were in place overnight.
Some roads near Roosevelt Lake remained closed Wednesday morning.
The heavy rains came as Americans living on the East Coast anxiously awaited the path of Hurricane Lee.
As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center forecast that the storm would reach northern Maine by Saturday afternoon before turning east and heading toward Canada’s Maritimes – the three easternmost provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island .
The rains in Arizona followed a summer of scorching heat in the Southwest.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, last month was the hottest August on record worldwide.
Scientists attribute human-caused climate change to an added boost from natural El Niño, which is a temporary warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that alters weather around the globe.
As of Saturday, Phoenix had counted 104 days this year with temperatures above 100 F, said Matt Salerno, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
That corresponds to the average of 111 three-digit days per year between 1991 and 2020.
Dozens of people cool off in the waters of Oak Creek at Slide Rock State Park in Sedona, Arizona
The sun silhouettes the air traffic control tower at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and the most populous county in Arizona, also appears headed for an annual record for heat-related deaths.
County health officials have confirmed 194 heat-related deaths this year as of Sept. 2. A further 351 cases are currently being investigated.
Last year there were 425 heat-related deaths.
“Our chief physician, Dr. Jeff Johnston, predicts the number of heat deaths will exceed 2022. At this point we don’t know how many. “It will take months for Public Health to investigate all heat deaths and provide a total,” said Jessie Caraveo, spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Medical Examiners’ Office Republic of Arizona Mid August.
According to the report, more than a third of the deaths occurred in people between the ages of 50 and 64. About three out of four deaths occurred among people outdoors.
Fire department rescue workers help a man who collapsed during a 27-day heat wave with temperatures exceeding 110 degrees Fahrenheit
According to the World Meteorological Organization, Earth has experienced the hottest summer ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. The record-breaking August capped a season of brutal and deadly temperatures.
August was about 2.7 degrees warmer than the pre-industrial average.
That’s the threshold the world doesn’t want to cross, even though scientists are more concerned about temperature rises over decades than just a rise in a month.
The world’s oceans – more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface – were the hottest temperatures ever recorded at nearly 69.8 degrees, reaching maximum temperatures for three months in a row, the WMO and Copernicus said.
“The dog days of summer don’t just bark, they bite,” said Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General.
“Climate change has begun.”