Dozens of trees, many of them towering eucalyptus planted a century or more ago in San Diego's iconic Balboa Park, fell last week, victims to a powerful Santa Ana storm that played havoc with the city's mighty giants.
But it turns out that storm wasn't done doing damage to the city's canopy, at least not in the park, where, city officials said, another towering tree had to come down Wednesday morning.
The high-pitched whine of chainsaws filled the air this past week, with parks crews and SDG&E crews laboring to clean up the mess and restore power around San Diego County after the lights went out for thousands of customers.
Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters.
Blame was laid at the feet of Thursday's squall, of course, but in some cases, the stage had been set earlier, when waves of winter storms arrived week after week in San Diego, saturating the coastal area with more water than it wants at one time, and, for a while, the sand, silt and soil greedily soaked it up. But too much of a good thing may have contributed to the downed trees, their roots' grip on the ground diminished. Some were sick, some just did not have the strength to hold on in the high winds and instead made the silent, slow trip to earth, most crashing harmlessly, but others slamming into homes, cars and, in one case, a woman near the Prado entrance to the park near Laurel Street.
In the storm's wake this week, the city forester and his colleagues have worked, as they do regularly, inspecting the larger of the park's 18,000 trees, focusing especially on those located near areas frequented by large populations of the public.
Local
"Following the downed tree events from last week, the city is inspecting trees in Balboa and other parks for their health and structural integrity," city spokesman Anthony Santacroce told NBC 7 on Tuesday.
A little later in the day, Santacroce was able to provide a concrete result of one of those inspections, revealing that a large eucalyptus near the intersection of Pan America Road and Presidents Way, just south of the International Cottages, had to be cut down.
"Following last week's wind storm, the city conducted an assessment of the tree and identified new signs of leaning and cracking at the tree base," read, in part, a statement from the city. "The decision was made to remove the tree in order to ensure the safety of park visitors."
Santacroce said the eucalyptus tagged for removal due to the storm was the first such "determination" the city had made to proactively take down one of the park's mature trees. On Wednesday, that's exactly what happened, with a tree drew working for hours to remove branches, limbs, and finally, cut down its trunk. It's not yet known if any of the other mighty giants will be other tagged for removal, too.
Last Week's Storm
Powerful Santa Ana winds that tore across Southern California last Thursday topped 100 mph in some locations — blowing over big rigs on highways and toppling massive 80- to 100-foot tall trees, including in Balboa Park where a woman was briefly pinned by a eucalyptus.
Police said the 30-year-old woman was struck by an 80-90 foot eucalyptus tree shortly before 8 a.m. She was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The city of San Diego later closed the 1,200-acre park after dozens of trees were blown down in and around the area, blocking streets and walkways.
San Diego crews worked throughout the day Friday to clear debris -- a process the city said could take weeks -- but pedestrians were being allowed to walk through the Prado area of Balboa Park on Friday. It was the first time since the '90s that the park was shut down due to weather-related reasons.
As of 4 p.m. Friday, there were 36 downed trees in Balboa Park — all in the 80- to 100-foot range. City officials said they had not seen that many trees collapse in 20 to 30 years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report — Ed.
