PHOTOS: Tree nearly falls through roof of Lake Oswego home
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — High winds and freezing temps toppled trees all over the area with many falling onto homes and cars or downing power lines.
It was a close call for one Lake Oswego family as a large tree almost fell through their roof, but was luckily held by cables in another nearby tree. The family was watching TV Saturday when a neighbor saw and called them to get out.
“I’m very thankful that we have good neighbors that were paying attention for us but it’s very scary. We were sitting there watching TV when we got the call so we packed up essentials and got out as quick as we could,” Matthew Altman, who lives in that home, said. “We got those cables installed pretty recently actually so I’m thankful we did, even though that wasn’t the purpose of putting them in, but we’re very lucky it hasn’t fallen.”
Tree service crews were already out early Sunday looking at the damage, but say it’ll take a bit to clear.
“It was a war zone out here yesterday when we were definitely looking at the trees here. As I was looking at this tree, trees were just falling in the background,” Adrian Vega with Wind Thin Tree Service said.
Ice-snow Winter Storm Watch for Oregon, SW Washington
Just up the street, one of their crews cleaned up where a large tree smashed into a home, also bursting a water main as it uprooted, turning the entire area into an icy mess. Around the corner, a Prius was left abandoned, after it appeared to be on top of one tree and smashed by another, car and tree debris littering the entire street.
Scenes like this extended well beyond the southwest as nearly every area of the metro cleans up. Thousands of customers are still without power because of fallen trees.
“The majority of our damage has been tree-related,” Erik Brookhouse with PacifiCorp, said. “Large trees coming down due to the high winds we experienced here in the east side of Portland.”
Pacific Power and PGE say limb and tree clean-up is one of the priorities on Sunday but it could still take a bit to get power back on.
“Given the extent of the damage and high numbers of outage events, restoration efforts, as I said, will continue into the week,” Drew Hanson with Portland General Electric, said.
With many still without electricity, time is of the essence with below-freezing temperatures still on the horizon for the next few days with the potential for freezing rain or sleet early in the week.
Back in Lake Oswego, Altman says his family is grateful for neighbors taking them in and they hope others will also step up to take those in without power for the foreseeable future.
“Reach out to your neighbors and check up on them, anyone that doesn’t have heat,” Altman said. “Invite them over. It’s a nice time to bond.”
KOIN 6 spoke with officials of both PGE and PacifiCorp earlier. They say mutual assistance crews are coming in from across the Pacific Northwest and other regions, which they hope will help speed up repairs.
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