A major thunderstorm that began in the Northeast Valley moved quickly into Phoenix Thursday evening, dropped rainfall amounts above an inch in many areas, and flooded streets and washes.

A flash flood warning was issued for areas including Cave Creek and Carefree, after heavy rains drenched some areas with more than an inch of rain. That later was expanded to Phoenix and Scottsdale areas as the storm continued moving into central Phoenix.

Then, after 7 p.m., a severe thunderstorm warning and flood advisory was issued for the Southeast Valley, including Mesa, Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert, until 8 p.m., as rain moved into that area.  Heavy rains eventually moved into that region, with the heaviest rains occurring in south Chandler, east Mesa and Apache Junction, where more than an inch of rain brought localized flooding.

Areas of north central Phoenix along the SR 51 corridor in Phoenix, and an area along east Camelback Road, were among the hardest hit, along with parts of Carefree and Cave Creek earlier in the evening.

An earlier flash-flood warning for much of north Phoenix and the Northeast Valley was put in place until 9 p.m., the National Weather Service said.

Cave Creek Road just south of Cactus Road saw more than 1.75 inches recorded by 6:30 p.m. Streets throughout the area were flooded.

The Desert Mountain region in northern Scottsdale saw 1.5 inches of rain fall within an hour, according to the Maricopa County Flood Control District. An area near Cave Creek Road south of Cactus Road in Phoenix registered more than an inch of rain.

Cave Creek saw nearly an inch and Carefree experienced 1.06 inches of rainfall within the hour, according to the district.

By 6:30 p.m., heavy rains had moved into downtown Phoenix.

The FAA announced that flight delays at Sky Harbor International Airport were from 30 to 45 minutes from the storm just after 6:30 p.m.

Around 7 p.m., nearly 17,000 estimated customers of both SRP and APS were without power because of the storm. More than 6,000 estimated customers with SRP experienced outages in the east Camelback area where roughly 1.5 inches fell in one area, according to the county’s Flood Control District. 

As of 9:45 p.m. fewer than 3,000 APS customers still were without power and were expected to see power restored around midnight. A little more than a 1,000 SRP customers were left without power. Of those, about 300 customers not expected to get power restored until early Thursday morning. 

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