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South Sacramento family teams up with friends to rebuild after storm damage

When one family living around Florin in South Sacramento had their yard torn up by a toppled tree, they turned to friends for help.

FLORIN, Calif. — It was midnight, Jan. 7, when South Sacramento resident Ashley Counts and her boyfriend woke up to a tree falling onto their fence—causing damage to their yard and a nearby shed.

"We woke up at midnight in the middle of the storm to reinforce the shed, which took about an hour," Counts told ABC10. "(The tree) fell onto the fence and the roots tore up the cement of the shed that holds the bike."

She shared a picture of two motorbikes in the corner of the now-damaged shed, and they appeared to be mere inches from the uprooted cement.

But instead of waiting for tree crews who last week were reportedly dealing with a backlog of damage, Counts gathered her friends to help her clear the tree.

The storm system hitting the area at the time reached 'bomb cyclone' status in the Pacific off the coast of California, and 60 mph gusts of wind knocked out power to more than 300,000 households in the Sacramento area.

"We were out of power for four days, which wasn't the worst thing," she said. "We made it work, got to work on (the tree) as soon as possible."

The tree was cleared, and Counts said her and her boyfriend will most likely handle rebuilding the shed as well.

"My boyfriend works in architecture so it's not the worst thing for us to handle. It’s just waiting for the weather to allow for some time on the roots of the tree that are left," she said.

WATCH MORE: Officials caution Sacramento area residents against travel as severe weather persists

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