Wind Storm Damage 10-27-09

Rick & Sandy Van Mell
1629 Begen Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94040
650-962-1515
Claim # 1014923028

Pictures of fallen 70' Liquidambar blown down at 3:00 pm on Tuesday, October 27, 2009. Pictures taken between 3:05 & 3:45 on 10/27, until otherwise noted..

With wind gusts in the 30 - 40 mph range, a neighbor had stopped at the door to say there was a crack in the tree. Sandy went out and saw it, and came back in to get me. As we left the back room to go see, it came crashing down. Thirty seconds later we could have been standing where it fell.

Mountain View Forestry was at the house about an hour and a half after it fell, and granted us a permit to remove the remains of the tree. Since it was 66" in circumference, it is a designated "heritage tree" (over 54") and needs a permit to be removed. Steve & Bill also recommended TruGreen LandCare for the job, - "call Ray," they said.

About an hour after the tree came down, a cable from an I-bar patch on the Bay Bridge broke, shutting down the bridge for two days. Thursday's paper (10/29) said engineers believed that wind related stresses contributed to the failure.

Ray arrived 8:20 Wednesday morning and we had an estimate by 1:15 which we forwarded to Farmers along with these pictures, and scheduled TruGreen for this (Thursday) morning at 8:00 am.

Right on time they set to work, and by noon the roof was clear. Great work ethic. They put safety cones over the landscaping lights, and lowered branches down gently one at a time. Sections of limbs were cut and fitted as props under the heaviest main trunk so there would be no additional load on the roof or gutter as branches were cut away.

We had also asked TruGreen to trim up an overgrown cypress tree that was under the liquidamber. They did a spectacular job.

The Farmers adjuster arrived , as scheduled, at 1:30 pm. We had a check before 2:00 pm for the tree removals and gutter replacement (less deductible, of course). TruGreen cleaned up and departed with our check at 3:00 pm.

Boy, do we have more blue sky in the front yard! The front gutters, and a small crack in the sidewalk were the only remaining damage. Other than the cherry tree, all plants came through OK. The yard lights are repositioned and working, the halloween lights are back up, and the sprinkler systems gave all the plants a drink. Thank you cheery tree for saving the house. We were really, really lucky.

Full view	PICT6894	Remaining trunk	PICT6896	PICT6897
PICT6898	Remains of cherry tree sticking up	PICT6900	PICT6901	Along garage toward front door
Over garage	Over solar panels (taken on roof)	Over garage	Cherry tree supporting weight	Bent gutter under this branch
PICT6908	PICT6909	PICT6910	View out front door	View out porch
View out along garage	Only debris on car	PICT6915	Garage entrance	Across sidewalk taken 10/28 8 am
PICT6918	Bent gutter area	closer view	PICT6920	Trunk of cherry & broken branch
Missed the lights!	Thank you cherry tree!	Sidewalk crack	Thursday morning ...	chipping begins
George & Teak watch	Bucket truck	the scene	Sizing up the cypress	PICT6934
Cherry base	PICT6936	Outlet is OK	PICT6938	PICT6939
Inside cypress	big job	Cones over lights	Proping up	nice job
Going aloft	Hauling off	More props	Roof clearing	One stick at a time
PICT6953	PICT6954	PICT6956	Very dense	Up in cypress
PICT6959	Cleared stones	Sidewalk crack	Corner bends	Clear, but bent
PICT6964	PICT6965	More dents	Clearing the corner	PICT6969
Dents	Looking open	PICT6972	Cherry tree broke the fall	PICT6974
PICT6975	Big sticks	Cutting last on roof ...	airborne	Lunch
Roof cleared	Stump time	PICT6984	PICT6990	Right next to light
Getting last branch	PICT6985	One by one	Cutting break ...	easy ...
gently lowered.	One round ...	next round ...	bottom rounds.	Shaping up cypress
all sides	PICT6998	Blowing clean	Liquidambar stump	Clean up time
Javier - good job!	Looks wide open!	New blue sky	Plants survived	Gutter is the ...
only casualty ...	about 50' worth.	Mock orange OK	Very nice	Happy Halloween!