East Bay public works crews prep for latest round of storms

Thursday, January 19, 2017
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Recent rain in the East Bay has taken down a lot of trees, and public works departments have been busy dealing with all the problems.

In downtown Oakland a huge tree collapsed overnight at 15th and Martin Luther King Boulevard, taking down cable lines and absolutely decimating the sidewalk. Crews worked to clean it all up.

Falling branches took out some of the iconic lakeside lights at Oakland's Lake Merritt.

On Trestle Glen Road one homeowner awoke to a tree crashing into his fence, barely missing a child's swing in the back yard.

Two doors down another massive acacia tree uprooted in the rain and toppled another tree just missing a bathroom window. The owner says tree trimming services have told her they're booked up until February.

On the other side of the tunnel, bikers from Lafayette checked out the Alhambra Valley Road collapse from last week.

"Yeah it was a little shocking to see how big it was and it's grown over the last few days so with more on the way it doesn't look good," Lafayette resident John Koslosky said.

Peering over the abyss offered a look at big chunks of striped asphalt with storm runoff from last night's rain eroding the earth even more. On the side there's a dangerously dangling guardrail.

"It's going to be out of commission for a long time? Yes it will be. I anticipate months even up to a year," Joe Lee with Contra Costa County Public Works said.

Contra Costa County Public Works says they are braced for more wind this weekend - that along with super saturated soil will likely take down many more trees. Crews are on standby 24 hours a day.


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