by Steven Felschundneff | [email protected]

A day after the devastating windstorm, the town of Claremont and its residents are busy assessing the wreckage while beginning the process of cleaning up and repairing the damage.

The stories all felt so familiar and yet uniquely tragic. Five huge pine trees toppled over Briarcroft Road west of Sumner Avenue, causing extensive property damage. Massive pines in the Claremont Club area fall over a row of townhouses. Eighth Street in Berkeley being completely blocked off by another giant pine tree. Residents of Via Zurita street blocked in their homes by other downed trees.

Around 8 p.m. Saturday night, city maintenance crews returned home after working for nearly 24 hours nonstop, according to public information officer Bevin Handel. City employees and West Coast Arborist, Claremont’s contracted tree service, were back to work Sunday.

“We have hundreds of downed trees with 91 trees down in our parks alone. Our city building inspector visited more than a dozen homes that had structural damage from downed trees,” Handel said.

Claremont police received more than 300 calls for service related to the storm, according to Handel. Claremont Hills Wilderness Park will be closed until further notice while rangers assess wind damage.

About 1,400 Claremont homes had no power on Saturday, but power was restored to some areas Sunday morning, including parts of South Claremont.

Tree removals are prioritized to ensure public safety first, then crews will begin removing trees that are blocking public rights-of-way. If a tree is blocking the street but there are other ways to get around, that tree will be cut down and removed after those where residents are blocked, as is the case in Via Zurita. Once all streets are cleared, the city will clear trees blocking sidewalks.

While working on a ‘windshield survey’ driving through town to get a full picture of the entire damage, Community Services Manager Kristin Mikula stopped at Eighth Street for a view closer to the pine blocking the road.

“We are walking down every street in the city to identify our top priorities so that we can send our teams to solve the most pressing problems. And then throughout the week we will do the rest of the cleaning,” she said.

It’s difficult to provide an exact estimate of when blocked streets like Eighth will be cleared, but that would be a higher priority than those that partially block a street or are encompassed by a median, Mikula said.

“We have worked closely with [Claremont Police], West Coast Arborist and our team who worked around the clock,” she said.

Lenore Brashler, whose Eighth Street home in Pilgrim Place was partially covered by the top branches of the fallen pine tree, gave Pro Tem Mayor Ed Reece a tour of her property on Sunday. The tree doesn’t appear to have caused significant damage to the house, but she said it was scary when it fell.

“Our neighbors came to see if we were okay. They were trying to find the Pilgrim Place security guy,” she said. Soon after, she was able to reassure everyone that she and her husband Jim were fine.

“Wouldn’t you know, in the City of Trees, we really get hit by a storm like this,” Brashler said.

“All day yesterday, for about 12 hours, I walked through town and made contact with residents who had cut down trees in their yards or on the street to check on them and see how they were doing, while informing them of what the city is doing in regards to downed trees,” Mayor Pro Tem Reece said.

He said people had a lot of questions about how to deal with fallen trees and how to determine if a tree was theirs or the city’s. He told residents that as long as the tree does not pose a hazard or impede egress from the home, Claremont officials will find out who is responsible for removing the tree as soon as possible. However, any tree blocking the public right-of-way, whether a city tree or not, will be removed by city crews.

Marie Williamson lives on Seventh Street, next to where two large trees fell, one of which damaged a vintage bungalow on Indian Hill Boulevard, as well as the sidewalk on the north side of Seventh.

She said another severe windstorm in 1987 toppled two 80ft Italian cypress trees in much the same way as those that fell on Friday.

“In the storm of 1987, around this time of year, they fell and just hit the window of this house across the street,” she said.

Meanwhile, Mayor Pro Tem Reece had a moment to reflect on the loss of the huge coastal live oak tree that stood outside Garner House in Memorial Park.

“It’s always been a gathering place in the city,” he said. “You can replant, but it will take decades to regain that hue. It’s truly devastating, but Claremont is resilient. We will get there.”