Mesa neighbors clean up after storm topples trees, crushes cars

MESA, AZ — Residents across Mesa spent Wednesday cleaning up after strong winds tore through the city Tuesday night, snapping trees, crushing parked cars and blocking roads.

Neighbors near University Drive said hail and heavy rain blew in with the storm. Fallen trees and debris were still scattered along Gilbert Road on Wednesday.

Greg Heaps, who rents at the Delano Apartments, said he won’t forget the storm. Fallen trees surround his home, including some that crushed parked cars. A tree is wrapped around the frame of the truck parked outside his apartment.

Heaps said the storm started with raindrops, followed by “howling winds.”

“I’ve seen a typical microburst, and then, people started thinking it might be a tornado,” he said.

Nearby at the Talise Apartments, resident Bella Chavez and her neighbors woke up to find several large trees on the ground. One tree blocks the entryway from the main road, stopping traffic in and out of the complex. Several trees in the area appear to have snapped in the high wind.

Chavez said the blocked entrance is a major problem because the complex’s other exit is under construction.

“There’s only one way to exit and one way to enter,” Chavez said. “This is going to be a problem because this is the main way to exit our apartment, and the other side has construction.”

Farther south on Gilbert Road, Grace United Methodist Church has downed trees in its backyard. Some are whole trees, while others are large pieces. At Quail Run Park, city crews found downed trees throughout the park, including on the soccer field.

At Palenque Barbershop on North Gilbert Road, employees and workers at nearby stores arrived Wednesday to find tree debris everywhere. One large chunk appeared to have blown from a tree behind the building.

Alan Lopez, who works at the barbershop, said he saw fallen walls and evidence of hail.

“I saw some walls that had fallen because of the trees,” Lopez said. “It had to be quite a thing.”

Several neighbors noticed tree pieces that didn’t seem to match the trees nearby, a sign of how strong the straight-line winds were as they moved through the area Tuesday.

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