Storm Assesment!

[azsnowman]

WELL....I can HONESTLY say I experienced my FIRST HUGE microburst last night! When I posted early this a.m. I had NO IDEA the amount of damage we suffered last night. It started at approx. 2200 hrs and last WELL into the early morning hours....my anomometor registered a PEAK gust of 73 MPH at 2218 hrs.....I had a bird feeder on a 4x4 post BLOW OVER, a flower pot with 2 quarts of sand blow over, shingles on my nieghbors house GONE on the prevailing side (SW), power was out from 2233 until 0200.

Dennis

[azsnowman]

It appears that I wasn't the ONLY one with a strong micro burst!!

http://www.azcentral.com

Storm socks Mesa, traps kids in schools

JJ Hensley and Katie Nelson
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

A ferocious microburst pounded part of Mesa on Friday, snapping trees and power lines that trapped children in schools and drivers in vehicles.

No one was hurt in the sudden burst of wind and rain, but up to a dozen downed power lines created temporary chaos about 4:30 p.m. near Extension Road and West Eighth Avenue.

Children were not allowed to leave three schools: Dobson Montessori, Powell Junior High and a school for special-needs children. Some parents coming to pick their kids up were forced to wait more than an hour. advertisement




At least two vehicles became entangled in live power wires. The lines created a sparking spider web, extending for about a mile along Eighth Avenue.

The storm left varying amounts of rain. Reporting stations around Mesa and Apache Junction recorded between 0.2 and 0.6 of an inch, and a station in north Scottsdale measured about a quarter of an inch. Most locations on the Valley's west side received no rain at all.

Fernando Navarro's minivan got covered by sparking live power lines after the storm hit.

"The wind started to blow and rain hard," the 37-year-old Mesa man said.

"It looked like a tornado. . . . I got to the light, and in one second all the poles were and wires came down."

He waited for 15 minutes, he said, until police assisted him out of his van. The driver of a Valley Metro Dial-a-Ride van also became trapped. He also had to wait for help, fire officials said.

"Unless the car is on fire, we recommend you stay there until we get the line secured," said Mary Cameli, deputy Mesa fire chief. "It is such a great risk to get severe shock."

The Powell Junior High students were moved to nearby Redbird Elementary, where their parents were allowed to pick them up. A dance, planned for later that night, was canceled, officials said.

Meanwhile, just across the street, the Dobson Montessori School children were trapped inside their building for more than an hour by live, downed power lines surrounding the building, officials said.

Mara DeFilippis, 32, of Gilbert, was among those police eventually escorted to the Montessori school. She had an anxious 1 1/2-hour wait to pick up her son, Nicholas, she said.

Yet 7-year-old Nicholas was unfazed: "That was fun," he said. "Let's do it again."

About 4,000 people were without power after the storms, according to Salt River Project.

Crews will be working through the weekend to restore electricity in three areas in Mesa: Extension Road at Eighth Avenue; Power Road between University Drive and Brown; and a small area on Power Road near McKellips.

[azsnowman]

I've got my handheld police radio on as I post this, seems there's a TREMENDOUS amount of damage around town They just dispatched Pinetop FD to a home where a tree blew over, hit a propane tank and the valve is now leaking, 2 blocks have been evacuated........I'm fixing to head out and see if there's more damage.

Dennis

[azsnowman]

OK.....numerous old growth Ponderosa Pines are down, most came down across major power lines, power has been restored to 10,000+ customers in the Lakeside, Show Low area as of 1/2 hour ago. 2 blocks from the house, a 200+ yr old Blue Spruce came down across power lines leading into my subdivision, hence my power outage last night.........

Dennis

[azsnowman]

Received a call out from PLPD at 1700 hrs. for more damage assesment and photos.....this is INSANE!! Within a 1/2 mile sq. and 1/4 mile long, a total of 4 homes had their roofs COMPLETLY lifted off and blown 130 yds......104 Ponderosa Pines were UPROOTED, a 14' aluminum boat STILL sits in the top of a 60' P. Pine, a VOLKSWAGON BEETLE is over on it's SIDE......could this have been a funnel or simply a MAJOR microburst??? I've seen damage of this magnitude on TWC all the time but NEVER up CLOSE like this!!

Dennis

[azsnowman]

Would the NWS office in Flag. have radar readings from last night I wonder, if so, I'd LOVE to see 'em!

Dennis

[Aslkahuna]

NWS would have to make a damage survey to determine if it was a microburst or tornado.

Steve

[azsnowman]

Thanks Steve.....I've ALSO got some other info that we just found out late yesterday evening. The one subdivision that was laid to waste, one house, a log sided house no less, had a 4" diameter Ponderosa Pine Branch DRIVEN THROUGH the log siding, through a 2"x6" wall, through the sheet rock AND into the homeowners HEADBOARD WHILE she SLEPT......God's honest truth, I've got photos at the PD, can't share them right now however Now would a MicroBurst do THAT kinda damage??

Dennis

[Aslkahuna]

Actually yes. Strong microbursts can have F3 intensity winds and do the equivalent of F3 tornado damage. I observed a microburst in UT with winds in excess of 100mph and I have had them here with winds approaching 90 mph while PHX took a hit in 1996 with 100 KNOT winds. There has to be evidence of rotation in the damage for it to be called a tornado. The narrow swath is no indicator since in 2003 I videotaped a 70 mph microburst that just missed my house that had a damage path about 50 yards wide.

Steve

[azsnowman]

All the trees are lying in one direction, they show no signs of any type of rotation. I was lying in bed listening to the storm, it's the typical "It sounded like a freight train" story, thought "DANG!" The winds initialy started out of the S-SW and in a matter of 3 minutes, swapped around and came out of the N-NE.

Thanks again Steve, I'm now convenced it was indeed a MAJOR microburst!

Dennis

[azsnowman]

http://www.wmicentral.com

Violent storm blasts Pinetop, damages property





By: Mara Reyes, The Independent 09/13/2005





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Mara Reyes — The Independent
Jim and Maureen Entreking survey some of the extensive damage to their home caused by a microburst Friday night. The tornado-like winds uprooted trees and ripped off their back porch, throwing it over the house and dumping it in the front yard.
PINETOP-LAKESIDE - A microburst caused extensive damage to homes and uprooted trees in the area of Woodland Hills Friday night. Three families who live on Bonney Lane, a normally quiet cul-de-sac off Woodland Lane, could not return to their homes because of the extent of damage. About 100 snapped trees littered other properties along Woodland Lake Road and damaged sheds, cars, fences, gas lines, propane tanks and downed power lines in the three-to-five-minute storm.

Microbursts, which occur during thunderstorms, are short-lived concentrated downbursts of winds that can reach more than 150 mph. Like tornadoes, microbursts cause severe damage to buildings, blow down trees and have even been blamed for airplane crashes.
Jim and Maureen Entreking were home with their four boys, ages 6 months to 9, when the storm hit. "Nothing you see on TV or read in the papers could ever prepare you for anything like this," Maureen said.
"There were heavy rains, and suddenly it was calm. Then boom! The house started shaking, there was this ear-piercing noise and extreme whipping winds," she recalled Monday morning as she surveyed the damage.
The wind was so strong Jim had a hard time shutting the front door even while pushing with his full weight. The winds were entering the home and items were flying around the house.
"Everything was so bright. I guess it was the thunder and lighting. You know how it lights up. It stayed that way, like a fog," she added.
Outside trees were being uprooted and thrown around like matchsticks, piercing the Entreking's and neighbors' roofs. Water started gushing inside the house as the new roof, which Jim just finished, peeled off and the trees punched holes. "It was raining in the house," Jim said.
The entire back porch was ripped out by winds and thrown over the house, landing in the front yard in an unrecognizable pile. The winds picked up a glass table and smashed it down somewhere else.
It was so loud they couldn't hear each other talk as they tried to figure out whether to leave or stay put. She wanted to go outside, but he didn't think it was safe. "It felt like the house was going to cave in on us," Maureen said.
Frightened, the family took refuge in a bathroom and called 911. "Something is going on with the house. We don't know what, but we need help," Jim recalled saying.
Then the gas line broke, causing a loud hissing sound. "I thought the house could blow any second," Maureen said.
The family finally made their way out of the house just before the Pinetop Fire Department arrived. Capt. Barry Green noticed the uprooted trees. "Some snapped at the bottom of the base. There must have been at least 100 trees (downed) just on that street," he said. "it was like a small tornado."
After making sure everyone was out of the damaged homes safely, firefighters started securing utilities. The natural gas company arrived to fix the gas line, and Navopache Electric Cooperative was called to remove downed power lines. ACE Hardware opened their doors at 2 a.m. and donated tarps to cover the roof. The American Red Cross put up the Entrekings and their neighbors up in a hotel.
"I've never seen anything like this in Pinetop," Jeanne Clements, Red Cross public affairs officer, said.
Their neighbors are back home, but the Entrekings might never go back to the place they have called home for three years. "The kids are traumatized. They don't want to live here anymore," Jim said.
"What made it worse was finding out it was just our house," Maureen said.
The family lost personal and household items that were completely soaked by the rain. The roof was big gaping holes, floors have sunken in, water marks are on the ceilings and walls and the musty smell of mold is already in the air. Damage is so extensive, the Entrekings think it might be easier to tear it down and rebuild it. The decision will be made by the insurance adjuster; he was expected sometime Monday.
Jim will be staying in a fifth-wheel on the property while Maureen and the boys stay in the hotel. They don't know yet if the insurance will cover more hotel nights. Maureen, a day care provider, has had to make other arrangements for her charges.
Meanwhile, family, friends and Jim's co-workers at Blue Ridge, where he works as a mechanic, have turned out to help. Bunger Sales and Storage delivered a storage container. They will be using it to store all their belongings while they figure out what to do next.