Strong winds topple trees in Fresno neighborhoods

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Strong winds toppled trees and caused some damage in Fresno Wednesday night. One tree fell on an apartment and another knocked out power at a shopping center. "It was the scariest boom in the world," said Jennifer Rendon who lives in Northwest Fresno.

She heard a loud crack just before the boom. A large eucalyptus tree fell and landed on her apartment while her husband Steven was asleep in a room. "My wife started yellin'," Steven said, "I thought something terrible had happened, she thought it was a war going on."

Jennifer added, "It hit the roof and just the whole house was filled with debris and like fiberglass from the ceiling."

They gave Action News pictures of the mess showing the beams hanging from the ceiling and the dirt and debris in two bedrooms. Fortunately, their kids weren't home and no one was hurt. "Now we find somewhere to stay-- find some kind of help," Steven said.

Six miles away at Stanislaus near Highway 99, another tree was down. It fell on power lines and knocked out the lights at a shopping center across the street. Half of the businesses closed early, including the Food Maxx. Lucretia Spencer was one of the last customers to walk out. Spencer said, "All the refrigerator stuff was boarded up, in plastic and it's everywhere, so it's a mess in there."

There was another mess at Central and Maple where a row of telephone poles were toppled by the wind. They were old and brittle-- like the trees which were also weak from the drought. "This wind is blowing-- the drought we've had, everything is drying up and the roots are, you know, nothing there to hold it," Said George Camp.

Camp has a large eucalyptus tree hanging over his head just like the one sitting on his neighbor's apartment-- the home of the Rendons. It's crushed and no longer a safe place for them to live. "It was just overwhelming," Jennifer Rendon said, "this is our home and where do you go? Like, what do you do?"

The Red Cross is helping the Rendons with a place to stay for the night.