I have to say, after living here 20 years, that this was the worst monsoon I'd ever experienced. Damage seems to be all over central Phoenix and Tempe. I heard that the roof of a mid-town office tower blew off and landed on top of a light rail station on Central; anyone hear about that?
I was home in DT Tempe last night. At the height of the storm, I thought it sounded like a train. The wind was fierce, there was quarter-sized hail, the power went out, and the house started to shake with this weird harmonic dissonance, like it was possessed. The roof started leaking in 3 different places (never had a leak in the 7 years I've lived here). The sky was lit up constantly by the lightning, like a strobe.
When the house started to shake, I feared the worst; that this was a tornado (as improbable as it is for Phoenix to have one), but I really didn't have anyplace to go. I put out some pans, sat in the hallway, and tried to ride it out.
When the worst of it was over, I went into the yard to try to view the damage. I could see that the big tree in my front yard was split in half, and also noticed that the familiar horizon of trees and houses in my neighborhood was different, though I couldn't see any real details. It started to rain again, then a transformer a block away blew up. I decided to head back in again.
I got up around 6am, after little sleep, and went out to take some pics.
My driveway. How am I going to get the car through that?
Pieces of the roof from this place landed in my yard two blocks away.
The roof of the Buffalo Exchange on University, splayed across the railroad tracks.
A house at the other end of the block. Not so fortunate...
I'll try to post a few more pics when I get a chance.