“When the debris was cleared we determined there was structural damage,” to the home, specifically, “The pillars that hold up the front porch and roof near the front of the house. We have four families that had to be relocated that right now are staying at other places until we can determine exactly what the problems are.”
Leach estimated that the house that faces Ebell Park could be as old as 100 years: “I would guess it has to be somewhere in that range based on the river rock foundation.... I would say it was one of the original houses in town. And that tree had been shading it quite some time.”
The tree was found to be rotten: “The bank had it trimmed and topped not too long ago and there were no indications to make them think there was anything different until the wind started blowing 60 miles per hour,” velocity Leach said was reported for gusts during Saturday’s gale force winds.
“When we were standing around a couple of gusts came up and shook you off balance,” he noted.
Leach did not have a damage estimate or when the residents can move back into the home until he meets with a contractor hired by the building owner.
Phillips said the incident was just one of numerous calls SPFD responded to during the windstorm of Friday and Saturday: “We had so many calls, lines down, false alarms from smoke detectors going off, we had some cable and phone lines down but no power lines. Amazingly, for the first big day of winds we didn’t have a fire.
“We’ll see what happens in the next wind,” said Phillips, as “everything goes haywire.... “
The winds, said Leach, “Made a mess out of everything.... “
