MESA, Ariz. — Mother nature unleashed a powerful storm Wednesday night in the East Valley, knocking down and uprooting trees in Mesa.
Strong winds also ripped a massive metal canopy at the American Speed Wash car wash located at Gilbert Road and the US 60 completely off its hinges.
“It’s gotta weigh 100,000 pounds or something like that,” said the car wash owners Ryan Pfutzenreuder.
Surveillance video provided by Pfutzenreuder shows the wind blowing the rain sideways and in the upper left corner, the metal canopy tore away with sparks hitting the pavement and flipping over nearly missing the Super 8 motel next door.
“It just picked it up and threw it 60 feet in the air and slammed it back down, upside down,” said Pfutzenreuder.
In Gilbert, more trees were knocked down, just missing the houses in a neighborhood near Lindsay and Baseline roads.
However, Jacob Eagar’s Jeep was not so lucky. A large tree crashed down on the passenger side of the car and landed across the hood. Thankfully no one was inside.
“A big loud crash. It almost feels like your body shakes but it doesn’t. It just a surprising noise. You don’t expect to hear it,” said Jacob Eagar.
The Jeep served him well and Eagar found the silver lining in this storm.
“At least I get a new car out of this,” said Eagar. “I’m just happy, again, that no one got hurt or anything."
Arizona Weather
Arizona has seen its fair share of severe weather. Here is a compilation of videos from various storms across the Grand Canyon state.