SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Many homeowners across Northern California are turning to private companies to assess and remove nearby trees damaged in the recent storm.
Crane operator and estimator Camron Dean said they reported to probably 45 downed trees in the past two weeks. One major reason for trees toppling over has to do with maintenance.
"Preventative maintenance is important. Some people wait until it's too late. They don't want to spend the money up front," Dean told ABC10.
But there are more factors for trees coming down than heavy winds alone, most trees topple over in the wind because they rest on oversaturated soil.
UC Davis landscape architect Luca Griffith says tree selection is also important.
"Deciduous trees lose their leaves and thus are much more resilient to high winds. The evergreen trees are capturing that wind and really feeling the force of it," he said. "Over the last 20 (or) 30 years, we've done great work conserving water—that has actually directed trees to grow roots at the surface of the lawn and so they actually aren't getting as deep of a root structure as we'd like."
Residents in East Sacramento say they have noticed a few things in the differences between standing trees and falling trees.
They say the say some of the redwood trees and cedar trees have been the ones to fall more, meanwhile the sycamore trees have been the ones to stand, being a little more flexible.
As storms continue to remain in the forecast, newly planted trees may be protected with stakes, but larger trees may have to be watched and assessed if any begin to lean.
