TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — We hit some surprising weather Tuesday: rainstorms right after we finished with the monsoon.
The storm struck with a bang in the Casas Adobes area. Lightning hit a palm tree and Northwest Firefighters rushed to put it out before the fire spread to Jenessa Triese’s house.
“It was crazy because it was all dark from the rain. It was like a light. Like a torch? Like a torch, exactly.”
For a lot of people, the rain was mainly an issue on the streets. Drivers had to be careful to avoid accidents on the slick streets.
The Pantano Wash was flowing across Harrison—and a lot of drivers ignored the usual safety advice to turn around, rather than cross high water where it can be hard to estimate just how deep that water is.
Near rush hour the wash was dry but the City of Tucson had put “road closed” barricades across the road. Hundreds of drivers ignored the traffic sign and drove through.
At Udall Park, the Ramada helped, but the unexpected rain still put a bit of a hitch in the picnic for the Tucson Social Seniors Group.
Ann Marie Bonito of the Meetup group, Tucson Social Seniors 60+ says, “It was a little dicey for a while there. We obviously got a late start. We got poured on, windblown, all kinds of things.”
But with the event planned well in advance and a good crowd expected, they stuck it out and pulled it off.
And Alan Jensen and his dog Yankee had to do some adjustments too when the weather forced them to reschedule their walk.
He says, “Surprising. I thought I'd be out walking the dog early, but it was raining pretty good at our house.”
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
