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Water service returns to 4,000 people in Casa Grande after storms knock out service

4,000 customers in Casa Grande were without water on Sunday, but officials say repairs have been made and service is returning.

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — 4,000 customers in the city of Casa Grande, located in southern central Arizona, were without water on Sunday, but officials say water is now running to homes. 

A 12News viewer, who wished to remain anonymous, called in on Sunday and said the city was without water. When the viewer called the Arizona Water Company Customer Service line, they told her they did not have an estimated time by which water would be restored.

12News reached out to Arizona Water Company as well. An after-hours customer service agent said that the entire city was without water. 

Arizona Water Company Vice President of Operations Mark Kieren later clarified that only 4,000, or 9.6 percent, of their 41,500 customers lost access to water. 

Audrey Lopez is one of the 4,000 customers who woke up without water pressure on Sunday.

"A slow stream to a drip to absolutely no water," Lopez said.

Her family relied on bottled water to get them through the morning.

“I didn’t think it was going to be off that long, but it certainly was most of the day," Lopez said.

Carol Hirst, another Casa Grande resident, said she had no running water at all in her kitchen.

“The neighbors all started calling each other like, ‘Do you have water?’ No. ‘Do you have water?’ No," Hirst said.

Hirst said she's never experienced a water outage before.

“Power yes, that no," Hirst said.

David Kean of the Casa Grande Fire Department told 12News he has been in touch with the Arizona Water Company and they have completed repairs on the water lines and lines that were damaged because of the storm. 

The Arizona Water Company said they had scheduled an outage for an area of Casa Grande near Trekell and Korsten roads to work on planned system upgrades. However, storm activity in the area caused that work to be delayed and then caused an outage at at booster station on the northeast portion of the company's water system, which knocked out service to a majority of customers north of McCartney Road. 

“It took all of our booster stations out that supply water to the northern part of our system," Kieren said. “Everything is back up and running. Everything is fixed.”

Repairs have been made and the booster station was back in service by 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Arizona Water Company says service and water pressure is being restored for all impacted customers and they are continuing to actively repair the water system. 

Kean said the booster station may have shorted out or got hit by lightning.

>> This story will be updated as additional information becomes available. Stay with 12News for the latest.

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