Neighbors worry strong winds will topple more trees
CONCORD, Calif. - Gosha Kuratzyk of Concord said Saturday night’s howling winds had her dogs barking nonstop, and sent trees toppling over in her neighborhood.
"Oh my gosh, it’s unbelievable," she said. "Everything was down. Like all the pots and the flowers, broken."
A giant pine tree fell in Concord Community Park, landing just outside the swimming pool area. Joy Muhlestein and her kids came to check it out.
"It’s a little intimidating," said Joy. Her daughter Brynn added, "It’s crazy that it fell over because that must have been a lot of wind."
The weekend weather also caused power outages, sent debris flying, and created road hazards.
On Roslyn Drive, a huge Eucalyptus tree crashed into a backyard, and a second one crushed a home’s garage.
"I heard the first tree fall here at my neighbor’s house and that was loud. It shook all the windows," said Andrea Harris.
Harris and her family packed up and stayed in a hotel after one of those trees landed in their yard, just feet from their back bedrooms. Andrea said she does not feel safe.
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"Our back fence has been destroyed and there’s still one very tall tree still standing. And if that one comes down it will come right into our house," she said.
These trees are on the edge of El Monte Elementary School. Neighbors want the Mount Diablo Unified School District to have the trees removed. They say more homes are threatened, and worry during the next storm, someone could get seriously hurt.
"They’ve done some work with getting them trimmed over the last few days, but it’s probably not going to be enough. We are probably going to lose a few more," said Sam Ryerson, whose mother and sister live on the street.
"Work has been very minimal, and we’ve actually had flooding. My neighbor’s house flooded underneath," said Andrea. "The water runs off the hill down into our backyards. And so that was a concern too and now here we are with downed trees, property damage, and water still running into our yards."
KTVU reached out to the Mount Diablo Unified School District on Sunday but did not immediately hear back.