Roaring Winds, Soaked Soil, Lost Trees

Two Corona del Mar homes were evacuated and a third was damaged as 70-year-old eucalyptus and pepper trees toppled in roaring winds that swept Orange County on Monday.

City workers removed four trees--one from the side of a house in the 500 block of Narcissus, another from the windshield of a car a block away, officials said. The other two were axed after inspectors determined that they might fall.

“There must have been some small pocket of wind pushing out of a canyon, because there are tall trees all around . . . and they were fine,” said David Niederhaus, general services manager for Newport Beach.

Coming after rain on Sunday and heavy downpours earlier this month, the winds were too much for some of the 60-foot-tall trees that grace the Corona del Mar section of the city.

“The winds and the wet soil are a bad combination,” Niederhaus said, adding that the ground reached its saturation point after 7 inches of rain fell in one day this month, and it has not dried out since. Older trees with shallow root structures have a tough time holding up, he said.

Some residents complained that the city has cut back on tree trimming this year and said that might have contributed to some of the damage Monday.

Niederhaus said the city eliminated its own staff and switched to a private contractor three years ago but that every block in the city still has its trees trimmed at least once every three years.

“We’ll be out inspecting every single tree the rest of the week,” Niederhaus said.

Elsewhere Monday, winds reached hurricane speeds of 129 mph at 11 a.m. in remote Fremont Canyon in the southeastern corner of the county, according to the National Weather Service. Gusts of 40 to 70 mph blew through other canyons.

Strong winds were expected to continue overnight before decreasing by midday, said John Sherwin, a meteorologist with WeatherData. There is an isolated chance of rain on Christmas Eve, but Christmas Day probably will be sunny and windy, he said.