Strong winds and soggy grounds topple nearly 30 trees in Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- As the rain pushes on, the weather fatigue continues with blustery winds that have created more of a headache.

The City of Fresno received a dramatic increase in calls for downed trees in the last 24 hours and the cleanup continues.

On Tuesday, Fresno Public Works received over 150 tree related calls, around 30 of those calls were for downed trees.

"My grandmother said she was just looking at the TV in the living room, and it's just a loud bang," said Pia Session, Fresno Resident.

This huge tree in Southeast Fresno fell Tuesday afternoon, after heavy rain. Pia Session came to check on her 92-year-old grandmother, who has lived in the home since the 1950's. She tells Action news her teenage niece was in the backyard, and the tree landed on top of her.

Thankfully it was only light branches and she was able to crawl her way out unharmed.

"I'm grateful she didn't get hurt, I'm grateful my niece didn't get hurt in the process, I'm just grateful because this is a big tree, there's no way I would have made it out," explained Session

The clean-up continued on Del Mar and Simpson Avenues where crews were hard at work using a crane to remove a fallen tree believed to be over 70 foot tall.

"Renters called me up last night and said a giant tree crashed through the fence and the neighbors gazebo, their swimming pool and crashed on the back of my house, it didn't hit my house but the backyard there," said Dan Walls, a Fresno homeowner.

Nobody was hurt in this incident but the city continues to worry about the saturated ground,

With over 12 inches of rain since the start of the year, even more trees could fall, add high winds to the mix and it's a recipe for disaster.

"Some trees that are more dead and dying its very obvious why they've gone down, but in other cases it may be that the tree looks healthy but the root structure is somehow compromised," said Scott Mozier, Public Works Director with the City of Fresno.

The city says the best way for homeowners to prepare themselves is report any trees that appear to be leaning or branches near wires.

You can report fallen trees through the FresGo app, or by clicking here.

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