Windstorm topples hundreds of trees; thousands still without power

In an average year, Vernon Esplin said Buena Vista Arbor Care Co. usually deals with about 15 to 20 houses damaged by trees toppling into them.

In the wake of Thursday night’s windstorm, Esplin said his company will handle at least 50 such instances. Just after Thursday.

“We’ve already probably removed 12 trees off people’s houses, and we’re just getting to the worst of the worst,” he added.

And that’s just Esplin and his workers. Other arborists were also busy pulling trees off roofs.

“There must be, at least, hundreds (of downed trees). You could go anywhere and find a tree down,” said Tim Brewer, who runs his own tree and stump service.

“Quite a few more trees are compromised and they’ll fail in the next storm. We’re far from out of the woods, no pun intended,” he said.

Arborists did a bit of triage this weekend, figuring out which trees that smashed into houses posed the most danger to property, and removing those. Others could get propped up while arborists work elsewhere.

They’re also teaming up with local crane companies to remove larger trees from houses.

Esplin expects it will be Thursday or Friday before crews can remove all the trees from houses in the area.

He said he couldn’t blame people upset at the prospect of having a fir tree as an uninvited guest for an extra few days.

“It’s hard, when you’re in a panic and you have a tree in your house. … Luckily there hasn’t been any additional moisture following the storm,” Esplin said.

When there’s a hole in the roof, rain could lead to mildew problems or even electrical fires.

Ashlee Clair, who had two Douglas fir trees crash through her house at 32nd Street and Grant Avenue, was worried about rain.

She hoped that the trees would be removed Sunday, but an arborist won’t be able to get a crane to do that until the middle of the week.

“Our roof has a big hole in it. The tree is covering up the hole for the most part, though,” she added. “The crazy thing is we just bought this house two months ago. Now we can’t live in it.”

She and her boyfriend are staying with friends for now.

Matt Adams planned to tarp up the roof of his house on Hillview Avenue after an arborist removed a tree from it Sunday afternoon. Limbs punctured the roof in two places and dented cars in the driveway.

Though power was restored Sunday, tenants didn’t have water.

Joan Gross and David McMurray also hustled to throw a tarp over their roof, after Buena Vista dealt with a tree that hit their home at 28th Street and Taylor Avenue.

“It was a thump and the whole house shook,” Gross said. “There are some people who have gotten it a lot worse than we have.”

McMurray mentioned a house at 20th and Taylor that had been nearly sliced in two by a tree. People drove by the site to check it out, some stopping to gawk or taking pictures.

Esplin urged homeowners with serious tree problems to hire licensed and insured arborists. “People that just hire somebody walking up with a chainsaw and a truck open themselves up for liability issues,” he said.

Nearly 1,500 customers of Pacific Power in the Corvallis area were without electricity on Sunday at 4 p.m., according to a company news release. About 1,400 customers in Lebanon lacked power, and 150 in the Albany area, as well.

Rural customers of Consumers Power, Inc. were without electricity near Bellfountain and Airport roads, in the Marys River Estates area, and in Burnt Woods and Eddyville. Consumers Power, Inc. had about 250 to 500 customers without electricity in its six county coverage area at 4 p.m., said Mary Zimmerman, cooperative spokeswoman.

Peggy Peirson, Benton County Emergency Management coordinator, said she was not aware of any major injuries because of the windstorm.

Kyle Odegard covers Benton County government, Philomath and rural Benton County. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.