Trees are no match for mother nature's wind
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Winds were erratic throughout the day. In some places, they were like a breeze. In other areas they were so strong they knocked down trees as if they were toothpicks. In some cases, they dropped on top of homes. In others, they damaged sidewalks as the roots of large trees pulled out of the ground.
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One big one landed on a freeway! A big eucalyptus landed on the 405 in the Irvine area causing a backup in traffic for awhile.
High winds made the drive on the 215 tension-filled for high profile vehicles drivers. The wind was so strong at one point it pushed an 18-wheeler over like a tinker toy in the Devore area.
Michael Green is an arborist. We looked at video after video of fallen trees and, for the most part, he felt the recent rains and the high winds were a fatal combination for some trees.
Said Green, "The heavy rains do play a role in that"... rain saturates the ground... loosens the soil.. and with winds "trees will topple over."
So you can imagine how Keith Harvey felt when he saw that happen on top of his house! The one in Rancho Cucamonga. Harvey told us, "I was like, get our grandson. Get him up and get him out of there. When I got here just seeing a big old tree on the house I'm like … okay… wow!"
Michael Green says you may not have a "wow" moment if you maintain large trees around your home. He says, get them inspected from time to time, "and pruned because…. with pruning the can reduce the weight of a tree if its too large you can do some pruning to mitigate it."