Severe Arizona storms brought a possible tornado, golf ball-size hail and toppled trees overnight, leaving families without power and significant property damage in Heber-Overgaard.
Overnight into Thursday, a series of storms moved across the state and hit hardest in parts of northern and central Arizona. The National Weather Service put a tornado warning in effect Wednesday night as a storm passed over Heber-Overgaard, a community of about 3,000 people in Navajo County roughly 140 miles northeast of Phoenix.
The Associated Press reported trees falling onto homes, utility poles knocked down, damaged roofs, windows and cars, and crumpled structures after the severe weather moved through.
Navajo County sheriff’s officials said significant damage and minor injuries were reported in Heber-Overgaard. State Rep. Walt Blackman, whose district covers parts of the county, asked for a state of emergency declaration and described the human cost in plain terms.
“We have families without power, significant property damage, and at least one reported injury,” Blackman said.
"We have families without power, significant property damage, and at least one reported injury,"
That is the ledger local residents face after one rough night: outages, wrecked property, and people hurt enough to make the official tally.
Wednesday night brought golf ball-size hail and damaging wind gusts across northern and central parts of the state. The National Weather Service issued multiple warnings during the severe thunderstorms and flagged storms still capable of hail and wind damage as they traveled through central Arizona early Thursday, along with some flood watches and the possibility of more tornadoes.
Strong winds toppled trees in Flagstaff and in Mesa, where some landed on walls and carports. In Coconino National Forest northwest of Flagstaff, a few dozen ponderosa pines more than 30 feet tall went down.
People in the hard-hit areas posted photos and video online of uprooted trees and crumpled structures. The damage was not limited to weak limbs or ornamental shrubs.
Ryan Bernhart, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Flagstaff, put the scale in blunt language.
"These are not small trees that are down,"
“These are pretty strong trees that had been knocked down,” Bernhart said. He also called the setup rare for the season: “This is very unusual for this area at this time of the year.”
Bernhart explained the weather pattern in straightforward terms. Warm, moist air moving north helped fuel storms coming off the California coast. Changing winds can make those storms spin and create tornado conditions, the kind of setup that put Heber-Overgaard under a tornado warning Wednesday night.
At Overgaard Baptist Church, members were wrapping up a prayer meeting when the storm hit. The congregation later posted that people were unharmed but rattled, and that the building and grounds took a beating.
“We took some damage, lost a lot of trees, signs, fences and a few windows,” the church said. Members did not scatter. They moved the meeting.
"We had a great prayer meeting in the women’s restroom,"
That detail says as much about the night as the hail size. Families lost power. Trees crushed property. Officials counted minor injuries and asked for emergency help. And a small-town church kept its meeting going under whatever roof still held.
As of the early reporting Thursday morning, a full tornado confirmation, a final injury count, and a decision on Blackman’s emergency request were still open questions. What was already clear was the footprint: fallen ponderosa pines in the national forest, poles and trees down in town, golf ball hail across a wide stretch of the state, and residents left to clean up while the weather service kept watches and warnings active.
Arizona families should not need a rare October storm to prove they can handle hardship. They do need officials to match that grit with a fast, honest accounting of the damage and the help required to restore power and repair homes.
