CAVE CREEK, AZ — Many communities saw flooding, but almost no area reported wind damage like Cave Creek.
Neighbors saw their steel horse stables ripped from the ground and tossed hundreds of yards away. Block walls were crushed. Roofing destroyed.
"We heard a bunch of noise, came out and looked. Everything was gone," said Gordon Dimas. "A couple horses were standing around here. A couple were down there just looking shell-shocked."
Fortunately, the horses - who were in the stables that were knocked over - were completely unscathed.
"We were totally blessed by that. It could’ve been vet bills. Could’ve been putting them down. They could’ve run off and we would’ve had to chase them down," Dimas said.
There's lots of clean-up ahead though.
"We had electrical [issues] we had to deal with. Water that was rushing out," added Dimas. "We were all running around like chickens with our heads cut off."
Mike Adelman, who lives two streets north of Gordon, is also having to do some heavy lifting.
"This literally came from my neighbor's house," said Adelman, motioning to a mangled horse stable in his yard. "We had a microburst here, obviously. It lifted this entire arena and carried it at least 150 to 200 yards, and literally spiked it into my trees."
Adelman, who is a Phoenix Fire captain, said it was one of the craziest weather events he has seen in his 28 years on the job.
Like Dimas, he is grateful his horses and his neighbors are unscathed.
"My wife luckily came out and moved the two new ones into the stable...and the neighbor‘s horse was underneath this [metal] and was still standing there [after] without any injuries. So very lucky on both parts." Adelman added.
