Tempe business owner recalls moment microburst ripped through auto shop

FOX Weather Meteorologist Steve Bender breaks down the microburst that wreaked havoc through Tempe, Arizona and is joined by Dale Sievwright, owner of Autoplex Auto Service, who was inside his shop when the microburst erupted and ripped the doors off of the building he was inside. 

TEMPE, Ariz. – Something didn’t seem right to Dale Sievwright. 

As owner of Autoplex Auto Service in Tempe, Arizona, Sievwright was inside his business on Monday as thunderstorms approached when a microburst with destructive winds between 80 and 90 mph erupted and ripped the front off of his building.

MICROBURST WREAKS HAVOC, LEAVES TRAIL OF DAMAGE IN TEMPE AS ARIZONA IS SLAMMED BY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS 

“We came out, and the front door was just flapping in and out,” Sievwright said in an interview with FOX Weather Meteorologist Steve Bender. “So we went to try to close the door, and I was trying to hold the door closed and then all of a sudden, we heard the cracking from the windows on the other side, and then we just took off running. And literally, like two seconds later the whole front of the building came off.”

Dale Sievwright captured the moment a microburst erupted outside of his business, Autoplex Auto Service, seconds before high winds ripped off the doors of the building.

During the tense storm, Sievwright captured video footage of the extreme storm as it wreaked havoc, tearing through neighborhoods, upending trees and destroying buildings. 

Sievwright was in the shop with an Autoplex Auto Service employee. Both were unharmed when the microburst ripped through parts of the building and tore off the majority of the front of the building.

Better yet, they were back open for business the same day. By 10 p.m., Autoplex Service Center was back open for business after a disaster relief company assisted in cleaning up broken glass and installed temporary windows.

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Sievwright said he had never experienced anything like Monday’s storm, adding, “Everybody here is like, ‘What’s a microburst?’… We do get high winds, but nothing like this.” 

A microburst is a type of downburst, spawned from an incredible downdraft that spills from the belly of thunderstorms. 

According to a damage assessment from the National Weather Service Phoenix, Tuesday’s storm packed widespread 70 mph wind damage, with the worst damage occurring locally where winds reached between 80 and 90 mph.