Last night’s storm ripped through parts of unincorporated Maricopa, leaving behind damaged homes, uprooted trees, flooding and extensive damage at an animal sanctuary.

Ari Gualajara, who lives in Thunderbird Farms with her family, said she hadn’t seen a storm like it in years.

“It was just coming down so hard, and it felt like there were rocks coming down on our house. It was bad,” she said.

The combination of wind, rain and hail shook her home and sent trees across her property.

“All of a sudden, we felt our house and windows start shaking. There was a moment where I saw my patio move,” Gualajara recalled. “One of our biggest trees just flew in three different sections of our property. Our neighbor’s tree was ripped completely from the root and it was a big tree.”

While the National Weather Service does not provide detailed information about precipitation in Maricopa. The nearest weather station, at Ak-Chin Regional Airport on  Russell and Peters-and-Nall roads, did record winds reaching at least 30 mph around 8:15 p.m.

A flood watch was issued earlier in the day, followed by a flash flood warning around 9 p.m. Several roads remain closed today due to flooding.

While there is a 30% chance of another thunderstorm rolling through the area tonight, more storms are expected Thursday and Friday.

Gualajara said her family also experienced several hours of high winds, sideways rain and hail, but the tree damage was their only major loss.

“All of a sudden, we felt our house and windows start shaking. There was a moment where I saw my patio move,” Gualajara recalled.

For the Gud Ark Animal Sanctuary near Papago and Brewer roads, the storm had more serious consequences.

“We experienced hail, thunder and lightning, flash flooding, heavy rain, power outage and incredibly strong winds,” they said in a social media post.

The animal sanctuary saw extensive damage to animal enclosures and structures. They also lost five animals “due to an enclosure completely flipping over.”

In Hidden Valley, Sheldon Neumyer said lightning and a loud boom initially made him think his home near Barnes and Hidden Valley roads had been struck.

“The lightning was just striking all around the house, it was very scary. Then we just heard this massive boom, and my first thought was the house got hit by lightning,” he said.

Instead, the storm had ripped the front porch from its foundation.

“It was pretty intense … I think it was a microburst just appeared on our property,” Neumyer said. “it literally tore the roof of the porch off the foundation. Half of the porch roof is sitting on top of my roof right now.”

Despite the damage, Neumyer said the storm also showed him the strength of the community.

“I had so many people today reach out to me to just help for free. I’ve never had that kind of people looking out for each other,” he said. “There are really good people out here who care about their neighbors.”