YUMA, Ariz. – Hundreds of residents in Yuma County are still without power, the weather is not cooperating, and lack of electricity means many residents will be left in the summer heat.
Arizona Public Service (APS) set up shop at Yuma Fire Station 3 to hand out dry ice to residents without power.
“That’s a really important component to this restoration effort to make sure that people can get the dry ice and get it back to their homes and stick them in their freezers to maintain their perishable goods,” said Anna Chaulk, community affairs manager for APS.
Resident Kim Wolf took it upon herself to help out with the dry ice distribution by personally delivering ice to dozens of her neighbors in the area near Co. 17 St. and 3E.
“There’s a lot people in this neighborhood that are handicap or elderly, they can’t get out, the roads are closed, we can’t get back,” said Wolf.
More than 50 power poles were knocked down by strong winds leaving about 9,000 residents county-wide in the dark without a way to cool down according to APS officials.
“The rain was so hard that it was just, I mean it soaked the hay, soaked everything, it was pushing through window seals. I’ve never seen rain like that,” said Justin Howerton, who lives in the rural area of Yuma County.
APS officials said they are down to about 375 customers without power by Wednesday early afternoon. They add that they hope to have everyone back up and running by Thursday at 6 p.m.
“The dry ice is going to help, keep that meat cooled off until we get some generators running in the house and then we can start cooling those freezers back to where they’re supposed to be to keep the meat frozen,” said Howerton, “And then the refrigerators to keeping drinks fresh and cold, keeping milk and stuff from spoiling, so it’s going to be a big help.”