Mess of wind-toppled trees keeps SF public works busy with cleanup

SAN FRANCISCO - The clean up effort is underway after high winds over the weekend toppled trees and left a mess in their wake.   

All over San Francisco the sounds of chainsaws filled the air as crews from the department of public works cleaned up after a windy weekend. Neighbors say they didn't know which trees dropped until the storm was over.

"I couldn't tell this tree from everything else that was making noise," said Norman Stone.

Stone says it's one of the bigger windstorms in recent memory. "When it first started at night I thought, is this rain or is this wind. It was so noisy," said Stone. "I quickly figured out it was the wind."

The Department of Public Works snapped photos of trees and branches that landed on cars as a result of the storm. But, fortunately there were no reports of any injuries. Crews scrambled to clear damage from one side of the city to the other. "We had about 45 trees or large limbs that came down so they went to one after another," said Rachel Gordon from the Department of Public Works. "We triage them, so if they're blocking a lane of traffic if it was hitting a wire those would get the first response from the tree crews."

Throughout the park system only about nine trees fell, one reportedly on a woman in her car.  No injuries, and only minor damage to the car, the Department of Recreation and Parks says that's by design.

"We prioritize most of our tree work around paths around the perimeter of parks," said Tamara Barak Aparton from San Francisco Recreation and Parks. "Places where people might get hurt or their property might be damaged."

The wind also responsible for a  blown out window at Millennium tower in San Francisco, fortunately no injuries there either.