Downtown Tucson neighborhoods recovering after Sunday's storm

Downtown Tucson neighborhoods are recovering after Sunday's storm. It brought down many trees across several homes and at the nearby park, some even falling on top of cars.

Nancy Bissell and several others in the Armory Park Neighborhood woke up to fallen trees right outside their homes. One of Bissell's mesquite trees was cracked open and might not be salvageable. She's lived at her home for about 20 years and tells me she's never seen anything like this before.

"This neighborhood seemed to experience quite a lot of damage from yesterday's storm," Bissell said.

Around the block, homeowners and landscapers were cleaning up yards. Some drivers, who had parked under trees for shade, were surprised to find trees on top of their vehicles.

Bissell tells me her native trees are meant to sustain harsh weather. She hopes an arborist can help save the lower half of her mesquite.

"I think when you live in the desert you have to expect that things like this are gonna happen," Bissell said.

Down the street in Santa Rita Park Neighborhood, Maria Haas is dealing with tree damage and a broken gate at her home.

"Monsoon season is wonderful and it's a rebirth and new life, but we got some pretty heavy winds," said Haas. "I mean, I don't know if that was just a regular monsoon kind of thing last night. It looked like my idea of a tornado."

Her security camera caught some intense action from the storm.

"I look out and my gates going, you know, I was in my pajamas; so I ran out here and tried to close the gate and then I had to go get a towel and come back out and try to close the gate," Haas described of the storm.

One landscaper cleaning up around both neighborhoods tells me he's fully booked for up to two weeks because of the storm.

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  Monsoon

  Monsoon damage Sunday, July 14

  KGUN 9 News Staff 11:19 AM, Jul 15, 2024

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Jacqueline Aguilar is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9. Born and raised in Yuma, AZ., she is no stranger to the unforgiving Arizona heat. Now this U of A wildcat is excited to be back in Tucson and is looking forward to involving herself in the community. Share your story ideas with Jacqueline by emailing jacqueline.aguilar@kgun9.com or connecting on Facebook , Instagram or X .