Food and water sent to Bullhead City as thousands remain without power, water
More than 20,000 pounds of food and water from St. Mary's Food Bank were sent to Bullhead City overnight Tuesday, where many residents have been without power and running water for several days following powerful storms Sunday night.
"With no power and in many cases no running water for several days and counting, St. Mary’s responded to a plea for bottled water, fruits, vegetables, bread, peanut butter and jelly and wide variety of snack items and other foods," the food bank said in a statement.
"We remain in contact with our partners in Bullhead City and stand ready to send more food and water as the situation evolves and if the need persists."
City officials said a storm packing wind gusts of 60 mph hit around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, and in a news release, area service provider Mohave Electric Cooperative reported microbursts of up to 80 mph.
While no injuries were reported, the initial damage from the storm left about 36,000 customers in the dark, according to the company. On Tuesday afternoon, the company reported that power had largely been restored but 1,700 customers were still without power.
"The remaining repairs to restore power to 5% of members will be very labor-intensive and will take a long time to begin replacing poles, lines, transformer equipment, etc.," Mohave Electric Cooperative said in its latest press release.
Residents were asked to begin conserving water around 2 p.m. Monday as the city responded to reports of water outages in several neighborhoods related to the loss of power.
The outages also come as the area continues to endure dayslong stretches of extremely high temperatures.
"Extreme heat conditions today and the following days will pose potentially serious health problems for some residents, especially the elderly and those with existing health issues, who are without working air conditioning or fans," Mohave County said in a news release on Monday.
To help impacted residents escape the triple-digit heat, cooling stations with ice and water have been set up at the Bullhead City Recreation Division Office, at 2355 Trane Road in Bullhead City, and the Mohave Valley Fire Department Station 81, at 1451 Willow Drive in Mohave Valley.
Contact northern Arizona reporter Lacey Latch at llatch@gannett.com or on social media @laceylatch. Coverage of northern Arizona on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is funded by the nonprofit Report for America and a grant from the Vitalyst Health Foundation in association with The Arizona Republic.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bullhead City receives large shipment of food and water after storm
