2nd straight night of thunderstorms in Maricopa

More thunderstorms rumbled through Maricopa on Saturday night.

It was the second straight night of heavy rain, strong winds and thunder and lightning for many. (InMaricopa contributor Kevin Vasquez captured the approach and arrival of the storm in the video above.) The thunderstorm was apparently preceded by a dust storm. (See video below by contributor Tina Nilsen.)

A severe thunderstorm warning issued by the National Weather Service earlier in the day expired at 9 p.m., but a severe thunderstorm watch is in effect until midnight.

The power did cut out for seconds about 8:45 p.m. in Desert Passage but came right back on.

Forecasters had said Saturday night’s storms could bring 70 mph wind gusts and quarter-size hail. Considerable tree damage wind damage to mobile homes, roofs and outbuildings was possible, they warned.

Continuous cloud to ground lightning and torrential rains are likely with the storms and may lead to flash flooding, forecasters said. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

At 7:30 p.m., the weather service said Doppler radar showed a wall of dust moving southwest at 4 p.m. from a line extending from Gold Canyon to 6 miles west of Florence Junction to 6 miles northeast of Florence. There was less than quarter-mile visibility with damaging winds in excess of 60 mph.

Friday night’s storm knocked out power to hundreds of homes.

That outage was caused by a lightning strike at its Talla Substation at the northwest corner of Honeycutt and Porter roads, according to Electrical District No. 3.

Two transformer bays – 1 and 2 – were restored by crews working in the storm to get power back on. ED3 continues to assess damage to transformer Bay 3, which remained out of service, the utility said Saturday morning on Facebook.

ED3 asked customers to call 520-424-9021 if they still do not have electricity.

When the substation was struck, residents in parts of Glennwilde, Homestead, Rancho El Dorado, Province, The Lakes at Rancho El Dorado, Cobblestone and The Villages reported an outage, according to social media reports.

The Maricopa Fire Department was summoned to an outdoor fire at Honeycutt and Porter roads after the Talla lightning strike.

By 12:15 a.m., however, residents in parts of The Villages, Homestead, Province and Rancho El Dorado were reporting their power had come back on.