Overview
- A sudden, intense burst of wind struck Heber-Overgaard around 7 p.m. Wednesday, producing about 30–45 seconds of violent conditions that residents said knocked down power poles, toppled large trees, shattered windows, and injured at least one person.
- The Navajo County Sheriff’s Office declared a major incident and warned people to avoid State Route 260 between Mogollon and the Overgaard Airpark and areas north of State Route 377 toward Tonto as crews work on scene.
- Navopache Electric Cooperative reported widespread outages in the area and said it does not yet have an estimated time for restoring service.
- State Rep. Walt Blackman said damage is “considerable” and asked Governor Katie Hobbs for a state emergency declaration to speed lifesaving response, power restoration, and assistance for affected families while crews finish damage assessments.
- Meteorologists have described the event as a possible tornado pending an on‑the‑ground National Weather Service survey and officials warn that storm threats could continue through Thursday as assessments and recovery efforts proceed.