Rosa closes in!
YPG closed today due to inclement weather 8,000 customers lose power Sunday as storm unleashes rain, wind
Thousands were left without power Sunday after a storm battered the Yuma area with heavy rains and strong winds.
“This is the preliminary precipitation out ahead of Hurricane Rosa,” said meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) James Sawtelle in a phone interview with the Yuma Sun on Sunday.
According to Arizona Public Service (APS) spokesperson Suzanne Trevino, 8,000 customers in Yuma County were left without power during the height of the storm around 1 p.m.
At around 6 p.m. she said approximately 1,000 customers were still without power, with an estimated restoration time set for late Sunday night.
“Our crews are out working as quickly and safely as they can to restore power,” she said Sunday evening. “We do have some wires down. The winds obviously were intense at times, that also played a role in some of the outages.”
Stations with the Yuma Fire Department (YFD) were distributing sandbags on Sunday afternoon, but quickly ran out according to the YFD’s social media pages. As of Sunday afternoon, YFD was directing the public to City of Yuma Public Works, 155 W 14th St., for bags and sand. YFD could not be reached for further information as of Sunday evening.
Charly McMurdie, spokesperson with Rural/ Metro Fire Department said there was some flooding.
“We have ran several fire alarm calls to include one to Crossroads Mission, which turned out to be a false alarm,” she said in a message to the Yuma Sun on Sunday. “We’ve also responded to flooding in the area of Fortuna Palms Loop where we cleaned the debris out of a drainage area that was backing up water and causing the flooding. We have responded to multiple power lines down but nothing arcing or causing a fire.
“Just driving (through) the area we noticed the sign at Hank’s Market on Foothills Boulevard is down probably from the wind,” she added. “We have not seen any major water standing that could cause problems in the Foothills commercial area.”
As of Sunday afternoon the Yuma Police Department did not receive any reports of severe damage, according to Sgt. Lori Franklin. However, several trees were uprooted, she said.
“Lots of low-lying areas are flooded as usual like 28th and Virginia, down 1st Street, down 3rd street and several traffic lights were out,” she said. “There were some vehicles that stalled out in the water and we had to help them, but no injuries were reported at this time. We called in extra officers since the calls for service were skyrocketing.”
Officer Edward Quintero of the Somerton Police Department said that the area experienced a brief downpour but no major damage was reported as of Sunday afternoon.
“Right now we are OK,” Quintero said in a phone interview Sunday afternoon. “We had a little bit of rain in town but it didn’t last very long. The power is on as far I can tell. I don’t think we’ve had any trees or any road closures yet as far I can tell in the city of Somerton. Now in the outskirts, in the part that belongs to the county, there were some spots where they took a lot of rain, but that’s more north of us heading towards Yuma.”
Sgt. Joel Sautca of the San Luis Police Department says the city did not seem to get as much rain as other areas of Yuma County thus far.
“We haven’t even seen anything close to heavy rain here in San Luis,” he said Sunday afternoon.
In other areas of Yuma County, however, a trained local weather watcher for the NWS reported nearly 2 inches of rain between 1 and 3 p.m. NWS meteorologist Sawtelle said. On Sunday the high eas close to 93 degrees he says. Sawtelle noted that there were also strong, gusty winds.
“The highest hourly gust reported at the airport was 54 mph at close to 1 p.m.,” Sawtelle said. “There were also numerous gusts to 35 miles an hour during the afternoon. The next few days it’s likely Yuma will have breezy to windy conditions.”
On Monday, Sawtelle said there is a 60 percent chance of rain for the day and at night there is 90 percent chance of rain. Sawtelle says the high for Monday is likely to be 86 degrees, with a low in the lower 70s.
A flash flood watch issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) remains in effect until Wednesday morning.
The remnants of Hurricane Rosa (which was downgraded to a tropical storm Sunday) along with a follow-on system will lead to scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms at times over Arizona and southeast California. In addition, the agency notes that conditions are favorable for localized flash flooding during this time frame.
According to the NWS, locations in the watch area that are most likely to experience flash flooding will be poor drainage areas and normally dry washes near higher terrain. The agency’s website shows a watch means that flooding of washes, creeks and other drainage areas is possible within the watch area.
The agency advises those in the watch area to watch the weather and be prepared to take immediate action should heavy rain and flooding occur or a flash flood warning be issued. Sawtelle warns people should never cross a flooded road.
As of Sunday afternoon, Yuma School District One, Crane School District and Yuma Union High School District schools are scheduled to be open according to the districts’ social media pages unless additional storm and flooding occurs. Parents and guardians should check with their schools for any updates.
School district officials encourage parents, guardians and community members to stay safe and watch for flooding before preceding to school.
Officials with YUHSD also note that families who have experienced storm damage or flooding should contact their school’s attendance office in the morning to notify them of the situation.
“We are asking any high school students at YPG to stay home tomorrow,” said YUHSD Communications Director Eric Patten. “Absences will be excused.”
Public Information Officer for YPG Chuck Wullenjohn reported that YPG will be closed on Monday due to inclement weather. He explained that Sunday afternoon’s rainstorm has caused several washes to flood, cutting off roads throughout the installation.
YPG Commander Col. Ross Poppenberger has also ordered all regular operations suspended at YPG for Oct. 1.
YPG reports non-emergency personnel should stay home and await additional notice. With more rain scheduled for Monday, Wullenjohn said that base leadership will be meeting in order to determine whether the installation will reopen on Tuesday or remain closed.
For further updates, the workforce is being advised to monitor YPG’s Facebook page at www.facebook. com/USAYPG/
The public should check with local police and fire department agencies’ media pages as well for any updates on flood aid and services.
Flood safety tips, such as building an emergency kit with water and nonperishable food as well as building a family communication plan can be found at ready.gov.
Yuma Sun reporter James Gilbert contributed to this report.