Gilbert, Q.C., Pinal area rebound after storm

It was a long day for Gilbert and San Tan-area road crews Friday. After a monsoon ripped through the area with several inches of rain and wind gusts exceeding 60 mph, crews worked throughout the day to reopen several streets shut down because of flooding and damage.

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Hundreds of homes in the area also remained without power until midafternoon, officials said.

The storm began about 7:45 p.m. Thursday and continued through the night.

Flash flood warnings were in effect until 12:45 a.m. Friday.

Rainfall totals approached 2 inches in parts of Gilbert and Queen Creek, and Florence saw nearly 3 inches, according to the National Weather Service in Phoenix.

Crews began shutting down flooded Gilbert roads about 2 a.m. And dozens of other streets in Queen Creek and Pinal County were also closed during the night.

In some areas, more than a foot of mud and other debris piled up on roads, officials said.

Most streets in Gilbert were reopened early Friday after water receded. But crews were still pumping water out at the intersection of Williams Field and Lindsay roads until late in the day.

In Queen Creek, Power Road was shut down from Ocotillo to Chandler Heights roads through the early evening.

An 80-foot section of the road’s west shoulder was washed out, town spokeswoman Marnie Schubert said.

“The damage was pretty significant,” she said. “We had people working all-hands-on-deck to get it fixed and safe for drivers.”

Many homes around the East Valley also flooded, officials said. And about 500 area homes were still without power until Friday afternoon, according to Salt River Project.

At the peak of the storm, power was out in more than 8,000 Valley homes, including 2,000 in the East Valley.

Gilbert police said they responded to several minor weather-related crashes, police Lt. Eric Shuhandler said. And Gilbert firefighters assisted Mesa crews in a water rescue at Sossaman and Broadway roads late Thursday night, when five cars stalled in the intersection, Mesa fire Deputy Chief Mike Dunn said. No one was injured.

A Queen Creek-area community was also put on alert Friday when water levels in a nearby dam rose dramatically.

Pinal County sheriff’s deputies were informing residents in the Magma Ranch subdivision of the overflow potential for a retention dam west of state Route 79 and north of the Gila River.

Water levels reached 14 feet behind the 20-foot-high dam, county spokesman Joe Pyritz said.

But the level was holding steady through the afternoon.

“What we’re doing is very precautionary,” Pyritz said.

Tribune writers Devon Hersom, Sarah Boggan and Jason Massad contributed to this report.