HEBER — Residents of Heber-Overgaard spent Thursday surveying damage from a violent storm that officials are still investigating as a possible tornado.
One person was hurt when the storm swept through Wednesday evening, KTAR News reported. It crushed RVs, knocked down trees and shattered a church window during a prayer meeting.
Kevin Smith asked a KTAR reporter for a ride to check on the 1999 trailer he lived in. They found it flipped on its side and torn open. “This puts me homeless now,” Smith said.
Jon Crandell told the station his family was eating dinner when a warning popped up on his phone. Within about 20 seconds they heard a deep roar and took cover. The worst of it lasted roughly half a minute, he said. His house looked fine at first, but a drive down the street revealed fallen trees and his destroyed RV.
Lawmaker Walter Blackman has called for a state emergency declaration for the area. The National Weather Service is reviewing the damage to determine whether a tornado touched down.
Sources: KTAR News, KNAU. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Jedijoe82 / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
