Claims Cite Damage From High Winds

A city resident and an Idaho couple visiting their son have filed claims against the city for vehicle damage caused by tree limbs blown down by last week’s 50 mph winds.

Ray and Beverly Leavitt said they and their son and daughter-in-law narrowly missed being hit when a branch from a tree on city-owned land fell near their son’s home in the 3100 block of Texas Avenue.

“We were all standing on the sidewalk not 30 minutes before that tree came down,” said Ray Leavitt, who said he heard the tree fall. “It made a hell of a noise.”

The branch scraped and dented side and roof panels of the Leavitts’ trailer, causing an estimated $1,000 in damage, the couple said.

Stan Boland, who lives in the 3100 block of Elmore Street, said high winds caused a branch to fall on his 1986 Nissan Maxima, smashing the windshield and sunroof and scratching the paint.

City Atty. David Hirsch said such claims aren’t unusual after windstorms or other extreme weather.

“These are very common claims after a storm, and there is a process that we go through,” he said. “Even though these are property damage-type claims that aren’t of a huge value . . . we could still end up in court.”

Hirsch confirmed that the trees in the claims were on city property. But not every city tree that causes damage creates a liability problem, he said.

“We can’t guarantee that every tree limb in a large storm is not going to crack and break and fall,” Hirsch said.