East county pelted by Saturday's storm

The storm that rolled through the Yuma area Saturday damaged at least one business in Wellton.

Wellton resident Dan Ellis, owner of the Wellton Hills Self Storage and Nursery, said the storm caused several thousands of dollars in damage to his property.

"All the property surrounding my place looks fine but I have some pretty extensive flooding damage," Ellis said. "The storage units were not affected. Water did not get close to any of the buildings."

Pea-sized hail along with significant flooding, dust storms, heavy rains and wind gusts pelted the Wellton/Tacna area as a severe thunderstorm rolled through Yuma County on Saturday.

According to National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Bruce, wind gust readings taken at the Yuma International Airport on Saturday recorded speeds up to 48 mph.

"It is possible that in some areas, winds could have gusted as high as 60 mph," Bruce said. "It's really not uncommon during monsoon season."

Bruce reported that 1.62 inches of rain fell during the storm, an inch of it coming within an hour.

According to Ellis, the storm eroded most of the soil along 400 feet of the southern end of his property, leaving the fencepost exposed, where he built a 13-by-6-foot water retention basin.

He said because of the heavy flooding, debris such as soil, tires and barrels from nearby residences wound up in the basin.

"One residence was a junk yard, so you can imagine the type of garbage that floated down once the fence there was eroded," Ellis said.

Ellis added he didn't think the retention basin was designed to handle the amount that fell in such a short period of time Saturday.

Lt. Darren Simmons, of the Yuma County Sheriff's Office, said despite the severity of the storm, they didn't receive any reports of significant residential or commercial damage.

"Anytime you get wind blowing that hard, you will probably get damage to some extent," Simmons said.

Simmons, who was on duty the day of the storm, said there was heavy flooding in some areas, especially in the Dome Valley area, which led to some roads being closed for a short time.

Other reports of damage included trees being knocked over and debris such as tree branches being blown around.

  He said a haystack caught fire at Avenue 30E and County 8th Street after it was struck by lightning.

Simmons added that there are still areas with standing water due to the heavy flooding, including the Coyote Wash Golf Course. He said when he went to play a round of golf Monday, half of the course was still closed because of standing water.