Although the skies parted and the sun shone for the weekend’s biggest event, California, Los Angeles, and our small part of the city have been battered by rain and wind for most of the last three days…with at least a few unpleasant consequences.
On Friday afternoon, a palm tree in the parkway cracked off and fell across the yard and front sidewalk of a duplex at 9th and Sycamore. But although the crash was loud (Amanda Egan, who lives in the building where it fell and was home at the time, said it sounded “like a truck hit the house”), the tree actually missed the house, nearby parked cars, and even adjacent trees, landing just across the empty sidewalk and front lawn. No one and nothing was hurt…and the Bureau of Street Services responded within a few hours to cut up the tree and remove it from the sidewalk.
Elsewhere, on Sunday evening, residents in Brookside reported several downed power lines and at least one fire around S. Tremaine Ave., resulting in power outages west of Rimpau Blvd. Â LADWP originally estimated that the power might be out all night, but at least one resident on Longwood said hers was restored by midnight.
And finally, Amy Vuckovich, who lives on Wilton, just south of Olympic Blvd., reported that “palm tree pieces fell on the (power) lines in my back yard, which arced 5-6 times and then three live wires dropped.”  During the dramatic incident, Vuckovich said, several “fire balls…sort of rolled down the pole and my driveway…It was really frightening.”  But there, too, luckily, no one was hurt…and Vuckovich’s power was also restored by about 8 p.m.
