Winds cause hours-long power outages, severe damage in Tulare County

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Powerful winds caused hours-long power outages and severe damage in Tulare County on Tuesday.

The wind was strong enough enough to knock down this massive tree in Tulare.

The large trunk missed landing on the home behind it after getting caught in power lines.

"It's just an old tree, shallow-rooted, and they need to come out," said George Serpa.

Serpa has lived in the home since 1956 and says he's always maintained the big trees on his property to prevent a situation like this from happening.

He says the power was out for hours after the tree went down.

"We just heard a thump at 8, no 7 o clock, during Jeopardy, and everything went black," Serpa recalled.

Southern California Edison says this incident impacted 765 customers, including homes, fast food restaurants, and other businesses such as Comfort Suites.

"We just went around to the rooms, knocking on the doors, making sure guests were okay. Provided flashlights," said Marcus Martinez with Comfort Suites.

City crews blocked off the road overnight and into the morning until power was restored by noon Wednesday.

"Our teams did got ahead and de-energized the circuits connected to those lights so they can go in, clear the debris from the tree and make those repairs," said Gabriela Ornelas with Southern California Edison.

The tree is now in pieces off the road and sidewalk until it's completely removed.

"If you have a downed tree, and you are worried about power lines, call emergency services, and the fire department will come out to make sure it's safe to move," said Trisha Whitfield with Tulare Public Works.

Southern California Edison has crews on standby for any other storm-related emergencies.

Serpa says he's worried about trees in front of his home since they're leaning quite a bit.

He plans on getting all of them removed very soon.