A Hazel Dell couple were one of several in the area to have their home damaged by a fallen tree after wind gusts peaked Wednesday evening in Vancouver at 43 mph.
Bill Drummond said he and his wife, Susan Wilson, were watching the evening news and enjoying a cocktail when, at around 5:45 p.m., they heard a crashing sound. It turns out, that sound was a Douglas fir, which he estimated to be 120-feet tall, crashing through the second story of their house.
They were safe on the first floor, but the tree destroyed two upstairs bedrooms and their neighbor’s garage, along with a car in their neighbor’s driveway, he said.
They stayed at a neighbor’s house Wednesday night out of concern for carbon monoxide in their remaining structure; the tree had crashed into their heating system. In the meantime, they still have power on the first floor and have secured a tarp over the destroyed roof, he said.
“We’re unnerved,” Drummond said. “But what can we do? We’re not hurt, we still have TV, we still have a computer.”
He said it was all of the beautiful trees that attracted him to the house 31 years ago. Since then, they’ve had a few scares over the years with trees falling against his house. But this was definitely the worst.
“The other ones kind of just hit the edges of the house,” he said. “But this one just sliced through.”
“I had 13 tall trees on the property, and I recently had one taken out. And now I only have 11 trees on the property — well, I still have the one on the property, it’s just not standing,” he joked.
Countywide damages
While Drummond’s power remained on downstairs, that was not the case for many across Clark County.
Clark Public Utilities crews had responded to 90 outages, affecting about 17,000 customers since Wednesday afternoon, spokesman Dameon Pesanti said Thursday afternoon.
The utility had all hands on deck to respond to the forecast winds, including hiring contractors and calling in employees who typically work in other departments. But as the winds peaked Wednesday evening, Pesanti said crews had to pause their work until conditions calmed a bit for their safety.
Crews have largely received calls in the higher elevation areas of the county — to the north and east, he said.
Clark County and Vancouver Public Works crews also responded to an influx of fallen tree and debris calls. Each department received about 45 calls for cleanup services overnight and continued Thursday clearing roads and assisting utility crews with access to equipment. County Public Works spokeswoman Kaley McLachlan-Burton said that at one location, the wind gusts picked up a barricade crews has just placed.
County Public Works crews also responded to downed trees at Tower Crest Neighborhood Park and Lacamas Regional Park. County officials warn the cleanup at the neighborhood park will require heavy equipment and said Thursday afternoon it would take about 24 hours to complete. People are asked to avoid that area until it is cleaned and to use caution in forested areas in case of leaning or loose limbs.
People can report hazardous trees, limbs or debris through the county’s online Report a Road/Parks Concern form at clark.wa.gov/public-works/report-park-road.
Vancouver crews will continue to sweep debris out of the street and away from storm drains and officials remind people not to put debris into the street.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service say the worst of the wind gusts should be over, with it dying out by today.
Once the winds die, forecasters expect rain on and off for the rest of the weekend, with high temperatures near 50 and lows in the 40s, according to Gerald Mackie, a meteorological technician at the weather service’s Portland office.
