A year after a powerful microburst tore through Tempe, Arizona, residents and businesses are still repairing the damage caused by winds reaching 90mph.
The storm struck on 13 October 2025, leaving hundreds of people without homes, cutting power to more than 30,000 residents and damaging buildings across the city. The National Weather Service later recorded straight-line wind gusts of between 80mph and 90mph along a corridor running through Tempe.
At the Sentry apartment complex near Mill Avenue and Southern Avenue, five buildings were condemned after trees crashed into homes, roofs collapsed and units were left exposed to the elements.
“Like nothing I’ve ever seen out here before,” said Andre, a Sentry resident. “The aftermath, it just looked crazy. Everything was flooded. It was just horrible.”
Isaac Guzman said his flat was the only one still habitable in his building after the storm. The restoration work took almost a year, he said, while most of his neighbours were forced to move out.
“They pretty much redid the whole place,” Mr Guzman said. “It took about a year. We were the only ones living in there for a while, everybody else moved out.”
Tempe microburst recovery continues
Other apartment complexes around Baseline Road suffered similar damage, with residents describing huge trees landing on roofs and homes.
At an industrial complex in the same area, the storm tore away much of the roof. Jim Murphy, of MHM Builders, said insurance approvals and repeated design changes had slowed the rebuilding process.
“Most of the holdup again was just all the pre-design, redesign and the city … and therefore waiting on the insurance company to approve us,” he said.
City records show the initial damage assessment identified more than 550 homes and 70 businesses as affected, with about 130 residents displaced after apartment buildings were deemed unsafe. A later community report put the total at more than 1,000 homes and 83 businesses, reflecting the scale of the wider assessment.
The destruction was concentrated along a path through the city, where hundreds of trees were uprooted and power lines brought down. The city eventually removed more than 2,000 tons of debris and has replanted more than 400 trees.
For residents, the recovery has been measured not only in rebuilt roofs and repaired flats but also in the help offered by neighbours.
“Everyone around here had to come together and just be like, we gotta help each other, because we don’t have any other options,” said Mia, another Sentry resident.
Tempe Fire Medical Rescue received more than 200 calls on the day of the storm, roughly three times its usual daily total. The city also opened emergency shelter and recovery centres, while local organisations helped residents with clean-up, housing and financial assistance.
Tempe officials say the emergency prompted a review of the city’s response arrangements. Its Emergency Operations Plan has since been updated and authorities have carried out further exercises intended to improve co-ordination if another major storm strikes.
Much of the visible damage has now been cleared, but some buildings and businesses are still being restored. A year on, the microburst remains a defining event for the Tempe community — remembered for the destruction it caused and the neighbours who helped one another begin rebuilding.
