Neighbors were sad to see a large shade tree in central Fresno go but the tree was too damaged to save. A Fresno resident will return from vacation to find a large tree he had nurtured over the years missing from his front yard.
Public Works Manager Brian Russell said "This tree was basically split in two. The wind just blew so hard that with all the foliage coming out in spring like this this time of year it just got too heavy and overloaded the branches and split in two."
The large shade tree was swallowed up by a wood-chipper and reduced to compost. In some neighborhoods strong winds blew over garbage bins and provided instant pruning of large palm trees.
Fronds were knocked off the trees and left on a central Fresno sidewalk. Russell said "We've had a lot of calls coming of trees being split, limbs down, trees down so we've been having crews work full-time to clean up the mess."
Russell says fortunately no large branches fell on any cars overnight. The damage wasn't limited to trees in the city. Several Valley almond growers reported hundreds of older trees were toppled throughout the night.
