Drexel Heights, AZ

Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation(NRPR) is partnering with several community groups on a drive-thru water safety event from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 29 at the Manzanita Pool parking lot, 5110 S. San Joaquin Ave., that will feature the giveaway of 500 life jackets, courtesy of Tucson Medical Center.

NRPR normally sponsors a free Water Safety Expo each year at Manzanita Pool, but the pandemic forced the cancelation of the event. Life jackets will be given away as long as supplies last. Be sure to know your child’s weight for proper fitting.

The event is part of Drowning Impact Awareness Month and is co-sponsored by the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona, Drexel Heights Fire District and TMC.

Jessica Mitchell with TMC’s Safe Kids Pima County Program will join NRPR’s Jodi Layton to hand out life jackets in the pool’s parking lot. Families may drive through or walk up to receive life jackets as well as a water safety resources goody bag. Members of the Drexel Heights Fire District will be onsite with their fire engine to wave at kids as they go by.

NRPR staff members said they were eager to get the life jackets in the hands of parents and kids since they were unable to hand them out at swim lessons that were canceled due to the pandemic.

“We’re incredibly grateful to TMC for providing these life jackets and we wanted to get them out to members of the community,” Jodi Layton, NRPR program coordinator, said. “Even though our public pools are closed, we realize many youngsters may still be swimming at private pools. As always, their safety is paramount.”

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Pima County is eyeing expansion of vaccinations and a transition into Phase 1B at the end of next week.

A news release announcing the plans follows:

Pima County leads the state in rate of COVID-19 vaccinations as of Jan. 5 and is gearing up to move into the next phase of vaccinations.

The County is currently in Phase 1A, which is for health care workers, including those in emergency medical services, and residents and staff of long-term care facilities.

While some other counties have moved into Phase 1B this week, Pima County is still vaccinating the 1A group due to the exceptional response from 1A-qualified organizations and their employees. That has resulted in the need for additional time in Phase 1A.

Those health care workers are still filling appointments with County-approved vaccinators, mostly at Tucson Medical Center and Banner – University Medical Center Tucson, but also at 11 other participating health care organizations. (See bottom of story for list.)

Now, the County is eyeing expansion and a transition into Phase 1B at the end of next week, according to Dr. Francisco Garcia, Pima County’s Deputy County Administrator and Chief Medical Officer.

Phase 1B prioritizes three groups – individuals 75 and older, education and child care workers, and protective service occupations (law enforcement, corrections officers, firefighters, and other emergency response staff).

The 1B phase also includes two additional groups -- essential services/critical industry workers and adults with high-risk conditions in congregate settings. Visit www.pima.gov/covid19vaccine for further breakdowns of professions within those groups.

“It’s wonderful that we have the highest vaccination rate in the state, but none of us should be happy with where we are right now,” said Pima County Health Director Dr. Theresa Cullen. “It’s critical that as we are in an accelerated rate of transmission that we accelerate our immunization process. I’m grateful to Pima County that we are making this commitment.”

Cullen said the County is targeting the end of March to get through the 1B group.

To accommodate the rapid expansion of immunization, the County is planning up to four regional vaccination centers, starting with a site in the parking lot south of Kino Stadium, 2500 E. Ajo Way, by the end of next week. These four sites will feature drive-thru vaccinations, with capacity at Kino geared toward scaling up to deliver thousands vaccinations per day.

“These are logistically complicated operations,” Garcia said. “We would like to get one set up, get it going and well-established, and then plan for the second, third and more sites. We’re going to be doing this in phased way, and this is what you’ll see us doing in the next few weeks.”

Other sites under discussion are one at Rillito Regional Park, Tucson Convention Center and the University of Arizona.

The on-line registration system has not been finalized yet. When operational, there will also be a call-in option. Members of the public in the 1B group should not attempt to register for vaccinations in Pima County until the registration system is ready.

“Our goal is to make sure we have multiple entry points for folks who fit into any one of those five categories in Phase 1B to walk through,” Garcia said.

Some groups might be vaccinated at a work-site clinic, at one of the vaccination centers, or at their participating doctor’s office.

“Part of the strategy here is to have the greatest degree of flexibility in order to serve the largest number of people,” Garcia said. “At the end of the day, I care more about the number of people vaccinated than about making sure every single person walks in through the right door.”

Updates, current vaccine prioritization and further information about when and how to register will be on www.pima.gov/covid19vaccine.

The goal is to vaccinate about 300,000 people in 90 days.

“We believe we are on the right track,” Garcia said. “We have good partners on the ground and we are ready to move forward.”

Vaccination sites that are focused primarily on serving their affiliated staff:

Copyright 2021 KOLD News 13. All rights reserved.

Johnson Primary School kindergarteners were treated to a tour of Drexel Heights Fire District vehicles.

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TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Tucson Water has announced that customers on the southwest side that were affected by a water main break should have water service again.

However, customers who were without water were advised to boil their water before consuming it as a precaution until Thursday, Sept. 5.

A portion of Irvington Road between Kinney Road and Sheridan Avenue remained closed as of Monday morning, Sept. 9. A spokesman for Tucson Water said the road would reopen once the roadway is repaired. The intersection is expected to open by Wednesday, Sept. 11.

The outage, which began at 7 p.m. Monday, covered the area from Irvington to Camino De Oeste and extends east to Drexel Heights and is estimated to have affected about 5,000 customers, which is estimated to be 10,000 people.

The outage forced the closure of five public schools in the area. The Tucson Unified School District confirmed Johnson Elementary, Vesey Elementary, Valencia Middle School, Banks Elementary and Warren Elementary were not open Tuesday and will remain closed Wednesday. All five of those schools will reopen Thursday.

TUSD assured that water fountains have been turned off and bottle water will be given to every student instead. Hand sanitizer will also be available in every classroom, restroom, cafeteria and nurses office. Breakfast and lunch will be available and classes will operate on a normal schedule.

Fernando Molina, the spokesman for Tucson Water, said they do not know what caused the 16-inch pipe to fail. He said age of the pipe, located at Ajo and Kinney, does not seem to be a factor.

Tucson Water was handing out bottled water at two places -- the Tucson Estates Community Center and the southwest corner of Ajo and Kinney. Temporary bathrooms were brought in those two places as well.

"Tucson Water continues to work to reinstate water service to residents affected by a broken water main in the vicinity of Ajo and Kinney Roads. Most residents can expect restored water service by midnight Sept. 3. This will provide water to most, but not all of the residents in the affected area.

Due to the size of the affected area, and as a precaution, Tucson Water is urging customers in that zone to boil water for the next 48 hours before consuming it. Water Director Tim Thomure stated “We have not detected any contamination. But out of an abundance of caution, we are asking any customers who lost water service to boil water for drinking or cooking, or go to our water distribution stations to pick up bottled water.”

Tucson Water will continue to distribute bottled water through Thursday evening, September 5, 2019, at two locations, (southwest corner of Ajo and Kinney, and 5900 W. Western Way Circle in Tucson Estates). Tap water to be used for consumption should be brought to a rolling boil for one minute. Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation through the evening of Thursday, September 5, 2019. The tap water is considered safe to use for showering and other indoor and outdoor uses, including livestock watering.

As water service is restored, customers may experience fluctuations in pressure, and/or air bubbles in the water until the water system stabilizes. Water with air bubbles may appear milky or cloudy. This does not indicate contamination. Air bubbles will dissipate if the water is left to rest for several minutes.

Tucson Water will continue to post updates on its Facebook and Twitter pages, and on its water outages map at tucsonaz.gov/water/outages. "

Copyright 2019 KOLD News 13. All rights reserved.

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TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) - We're tracking the lastest Monsoon activity in Southern Arizona.

FORECAST | RADAR | ALERTS

11:33 a.m.

Here's our first look at the rainfall totals so far from storms overnight and this morning:

11:02 a.m.

Need sandbags? There are a number of places you can grab some for free around southern Arizona. Check out the map below for locations, hours and details:

10:27 a.m.

TPD reports that power has been restored to most customers affected by the morning outage. Check the outage map for updates.

Northwest Fire crews rescued a driver stuck near Grier Road by Sandario Road.

9:17 a.m.

Northwest Fire says their crews rescued a driver near Silverbell and Sweetwater Drive earlier this morning.

9:06 a.m.

8:57 a.m.

Pima County Sheriff's Department says there are multiple downed power lines on West Speedway Blvd..

8:29 a.m.

Northwest Fire is warning drivers to look out for flooded roadways.

8:10 a.m.

Nearly 2,000 Tucson Electric Power customers -- mostly west of Interstate 10 -- lost power in the 8 a.m. hour.

According to the TEP outage map, there was no cause or expected time of restoration.

8:03 a.m.

According to Golder Ranch Fire, a house was hit by lightning near Mountain View and Clubhouse.

7:42 a.m.

Two inches of rain have been reported near Ironwood Wood Drive west of Silverbell Road. Flash flooding is expected.

7:23 a.m.

The National Weather Service extended its Flash Flood Warning to 10:15 a.m. Rainfall of up to two inches is expected in areas including Tucson, Casas Adobes, Drexel Heights, Flowing Wells, South Tucson, Three Points, Tucson Estates, Saguaro National Park West, Valencia West, Catalina Foothills, Picture Rocks and Ryan Airfield.

6:45 a.m.

The National Weather Service issued a Significant Weather Advisory for North Central Pima and Pinal Counties until 7:30 a.m.

The service warned of winds faster than 40mph in areas including Eloy, Kearny, Dudleyville, Picacho, Chui-Chu, Picacho Peak State Park, Red Rock, Cactus Forest, Cockleburr, North Komelik, Kohatk, Jack Rabbit, Shopishk, Kelvin and East Chui-Chu.

6:33 a.m.

The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Warning for northeastern Pima County and southeastern Pinal County until 9:30 a.m.

6:13 a.m.

The National Weather Service issued an Urban and Small Stream Flood Advisory for northeastern Pima County and southeastern Pinal County.

The advisory lasts until 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Heavy rain from thunderstorms is causing the flooding, bringing between 0.5 and `1.5 inches of rain.

Areas subject to flooding include Catalina, Oro Valley, Marana, Oracle, Saddlebrooke, Tortolita, Mount Lemmon/Summerhaven, Catalina State Park, Campo Bonito, Oracle Junction, Biosphere 2 and Dove Mountain.

MORE WEATHER