Strong winds knock down trees, cause crashes & outages

Windy weather continued throughout the day, knocking down trees and leaving debris all across the roads, on people’s homes and cars.

At one Cathedral City home, a massive eucalyptus tree fell in the front yard.

“I came out and when ahhh! It was a shock. It was actually a shock. People came out and say my God were you lucky that it went this way because you’d have been killed if it went that way,” said Susan Woods, a resident of Mountain View Apartments in Cathedral City.

Woods said if the wind had been blowing the other way, the tree would have smashed her whole wall and gone into the bathroom.

Trees like those have shallow root systems, which are particularly at risk when there are high-speed winds.

Other residents are also concerned. Some said they believed the recent rain this past week softened the soil.

“We got the big storm so everything has been pretty damp,” one neighbor said.

“I’ve lived here five years but this wind is very unusual in this area,” another neighbor said.

Winds impacted people all across the Coachella Valley. A tree was knocked over in Palm Springs.

Big rigs ended up overturned on Highway 62 earlier this morning. The conditions also caused over 500 Southern California Edison customers to lose power.

The windy conditions are expected to continue for the next couple of days. The California Highway Patrol is advising drivers to be extra cautious driving in these conditions.