Overnight storm brought much needed rain, but left a mess in areas of Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Crews worked into Friday afternoon to clean up the mess left behind by Thursday night's storm. Tree limbs were knocked down in the Fig Garden area near the intersection of Wilson and Rialto Avenue and other parts of Fresno.

"One of the branches had actually fallen, so they actually had to block the whole street off," said Ilyn Chavez, a worker with Gomez Tree Service.

The rain also left its mark.

"We also had a little bit of localized flooding south of Shaw Avenue on Polk," said Scott Mozier, Public Works Director.

Crews were not the only ones who were busy. Ryder Celaya also had his hands full cleaning up his yard.

"It is fall season," said Celaya. "It rained last night so I can probably dig up some stuff maybe hopefully everything will be good by the end of the night. Make everything look nice. Rake it up."

Apart from cleanup, the City of Fresno is working on storm damage prevention.

"We will clear drains," said Mozier. "The street sweepers do a lot of the work picking up leaves in the neighbourhoods which again that helps keep storm drains clean."

Gomez Tree Service is also preparing homeowners for winter. Chavez said now is the best time to trim trees.

"Right now, during this time is when it is usually raining or when there are heavy winds," said Chavez. "A lot of those branches tend to be really thin or brittle, so what ends up happening is a lot of those branches end up falling."

People can also do their part, by cleaning up leaves on and around their properties.