Homeowners in parts of the Valley continue to clean up Tuesday after a dust storm ripped through Monday.
The storm brought damaging winds at times gusting over 60 miles per hour.
Across the Valley, concrete walls and fences are down and shingles have been ripped off homes.
“It went from clear skies to a haboob blowing across the Valley,” said Travis Vonau, a Hobaica technician.
“I heard a lot of cracking and a loud bang when it hit the top of the van,” said Vonau. A large Mesquite tree was blown on top of his Hobaica van while he was inside a home during a service call.
“It was laying here and inside the van with the windshield shattered, and then the headrest inside is all folded in,” said Vonau.
“I came running out, and I go, 'oh my gosh,'” said Wayne Huff, the homeowner’s son. He said he is still shocked by the damage.
Vonau is back to work with a new windshield, but for Wayne, his mom, and even the neighborhood, the clean-up is personal.
“This was my dad’s tree,” said Huff. “This was the tree that everyone admired in the neighborhood.”
Huff said they lost his dad about five years ago.
He said this is the second tree his mom has lost, so she won’t be replanting another.
After it came crashing down, Huff said neighbors rushed to help cut the branches and get the van out.
Huff and some of those neighbors plan on keeping a piece for a memory of his dad.
“That’s the biggest thing is preserving it and having it as a memory,” said Huff.
Huff said the clean-up is a work in progress, but the most important thing is no one was hurt.
