Crews are cleaning up after severe storms moved through the Valley Thursday night. Many are eager to see what damage has been done. "It will be interesting to see what it looks like after sunrise," said Sgt. Ryan Skedel of the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.

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© Matt York / APLightning reveals a large layer of dust in the sky over Gilbert, Ariz., on Thursday.
Sunrise revealed quite a sight. Utility poles blown over by heavy winds snapped like toothpicks along the Hunt Highway where stranded vehicles were still on the road as of 6:20 am Friday. The storm moved through Eloy, Casa Grande, San Tan Valley and Queen Creek before it hit central Phoenix just before 6 p.m. Thursday.


Pinal County and Southeast Valley

Pinal County officials say Sunland Gin Road from Harmon Road south to Pretzer Road was closed due to downed power lines. The road closure was south of Arizona City and west of Interstate 10. Work crews estimated the road could be closed overnight until power company workers can make repairs.

Salt River Project spokesman Jeff Lane said approximately 3,800 customers lost power in the areas of Queen Creek, Johnson Ranch, Apache Junction and Gold Canyon. As of 4:30 a.m. Friday, Lane said there are 200 customers Valley-wide without power. He said 70 power poles are down in the Queen Creek and Johnson Ranch area.

Pinal County Sheriff's spokesman Elias Johnson said Hunt Highway in the Johnson Ranch area has reopened but Bella Vista Road would be closed until nearly 1 a.m., from Schnepf to Quail Run due to power lines down. He also said Hunt Highway is closed at Quartzsite, Johnson Ranch Boulevard and Thistle Trail due to downed power lines.

SRP said these locations could be closed for three days as workers bring in cranes to help remove and replace the power poles. Drivers are urged to use caution in the area as many parts of the road were flooded and are covered with debris, Johnson said.

ABC15's Steve Kuzj was on the scene in San Tan Valley where students had to be evacuated from a school bus on which power lines had fallen.

Pinal County Sheriff's spokesman Elias Johnson said there were five students on the bus and everyone waited there until they could be safely taken off the bus.

Johnson said no one was hurt. The students were very frightened, recalling seeing the power lines sizzling in puddles of rain water. It took about four hours to make the scene safe and get the students off the bus.

ABC15's Dave Biscobing drove throughout the southeast Valley and saw several crashes caused by the storm on U.S 60, including a four-car pileup. But he also found several peewee football teams holding practice in the middle of the storm. Parents and children said it wasn't terrible and that it passed by them "pretty quickly."

Phoenix

Arizona Public Service officials said approximately 2 customers in the Phoenix are without power.

ABC15's Christopher Sign was at Sky Harbor Airport at 6 p.m. and said the dust storm had rolled into the area about 15 minutes earlier. He said he watched as at least one aircraft started to touch down then abort its landing.

Sky Harbor officials said there was a "ground stoppage" put in place at 6 p.m. for departures and arrivals from the airport. By 6:30 p.m. planes were again departing from the airport and arrivals began coming in shortly after.

Eloy

As of Friday at 4:20 a.m., 100 people in Eloy remain without power, down from 1,600 people Friday night. Power is expected to be restored by noon.

APS said they will have dry ice available at 9 a.m. Friday at the back of the Eloy Police Station 630 N. Main Street.

Spokesman Dan Wool said there were 25 to 30 downed power poles in Eloy. There were also reports of damage to buildings.

Viewers have been sending in their photos of the massive wall of dust and damage to homes and trees.