MESA, Ariz. — Mesa Cemetery closed Monday after monsoon storms caused damage inside the decades-old burial spot.
The monsoon storm that rolled through Sunday night and caused power outages across the Valley, didn’t leave out the historic cemetery near University Drive and Center Street.
“This is the third time,” Rick Fifield, the cemetery's operations coordinator.
Fifield has worked at the cemetery for 25 years.
“Everybody knows this cemetery by the Italian cypress,” Fifield added.
The tall, narrow, dark green trees usually stand tall next to the 38,000 graves in-between the grasses.
Now, dozens of the 50 to 70-year-old trees lie uprooted.
Fifield estimates about 70 trees are down at Mesa Cemetery due to Sunday night’s storm.
A few years ago, 120 were downed from a storm and a microburst in 2006 took out 160.
Fifield said termites have gotten to the aging trees filling the cemetery.
“They’re older trees as well, and a lot of them are starting to expire and their roots are not as attached as a normally healthy tree would,” Fifield said.
The roots of the Italian cypress trees are between and around graves that serve as markers for local and national history.
Sunday’s storm even forced the trees to move some of the flat grave markers out of their resting place too.
“I’m really sad to see those trees were lost,” historian Vic Linoff said.
Linoff is someone who understands the cemetery's significance, beyond just the people buried beneath the trees.
“I think the cypress trees are one of the defining characters of that cemetery,” Linoff said.
A few years ago, a Mesa press release shows there was a campaign underway to replace and care for Italian cypress and olive trees lost in a 2019 storm.
Now, crews are working to pick up the branches and downed trees throughout the cemetery.
“I mean it’s like a park, and we take pride in that park,” Fifield said.
A city spokesperson tells 12News there weren’t any services planned for a couple of days, but they are hoping to have the cemetery back open by mid-week for services.
The spokesperson said the plan is to have the cemetery open for visitors by end of the day Monday.
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