Trees falling all over in San Mateo County

“I parked my car in front of it and I saw it moving; and, as I moved my car, it fell behind me,” McRee said.

Along the Bayside, more than 50 trees fell including 17 in Redwood City, six in Millbrae, 11 in South City, nine in San Mateo, three in San Carlos, five in San Bruno and two in Belmont and Foster City. It brought more than 90 wires and 55 sparking wires down, which were 18% and 10% of the respective Tuesday emergency calls, according to Fire Dispatch data.

Brian Fernandez who lives at 204 Del Rosa Way in San Mateo, had a tree fall on his car just outside his house, damaging a large section of his hood but avoiding any glass. He was as surprised as anyone when he heard about it from his mother Tuesday afternoon. He had not seen anything like it before and was not aware of any other tree issues in the neighborhood. He was in the midst of calling the city to find out the next steps to handle tree removal, with hopes his car can be salvageable given only the hood appears damaged.

The high winds caused road closures in San Mateo from Ninth Avenue from Palm Avenue to South El Camino Real in both directions in the early afternoon, while 12th Avenue from South B Street to South Railroad Avenue was also closed. El Camino Real closed in both directions at Clark Drive due to a large tree downed by high winds.

San Mateo Consolidated Fire responded to wires down at 828 North Delaware St., 1230 W. Hillsdale Blvd., North El Dorado Street, North El Camino Real, 28th Avenue and Hacienda Street, 452 Hillcrest Road, 608 Alta Ave., 445 Midway Ave., and 2012 Lyon Ave. Reports of trees down occurred at 1114 Burke Lane, 19 Lyme Lane, 1601 Coyote Point Drive, 1668 Taylor St., and 237 S. Idaho St. In Redwood City, Woodside Road from Bay Road to Hess Road was closed due to power lines being down.

Many of the trees fell at the mercy of the powerful winds that National Weather Service Meteorologist Sean Miller said ranged from 40-50 mph along the Bayside, reaching 74 mph at its highest at the San Francisco International Airport.

One eucalyptus tree fell in between Saint Charles Church and Brittan Acres Elementary School in San Carlos. The school let its students out early so workers could deal with the cleanup, according to employee Angelo Regalia. In Burlingame, a large eucalyptus tree fell in front of the Burlingame Methodist Church at the corner of El Camino Real and Howard Avenue.

“This is all part of the atmospheric river that we expected, it brought the rain and the wind, but the wind was the most impactful,” Miller said. “All the rain and how saturated things are, be vigilant of trees falling down.”

Winds reached 81 mph in La Honda and the higher elevations. Around 30 trees in total were reported down in La Honda, Skyline, Woodside and the coastside including unincorporated areas.

Multiple lanes along the highways were closed due to localized flooding and tree failure. In Burlingame, the southbound Highway 101 express lane on Broadway was closed due to flooding. La Honda Road and Pescadero Creek Road was closed in both directions due to a downed tree and power lines. Interstate 280 north of Trousdale Drive had all lanes closed due to a downed tree; and State Route 92 was closed in all directions at Diggs Canyon in Half Moon Bay due to a downed tree.

There will be a break in the weather Wednesday and Thursday but Miller said there are chances for rain all weekend albeit not heavy amounts.

“But nothing on the horizon like we had the last two days,” Miller said. “Early next week we could expect more, the details are still murky but we are watching next week for more rain.”