Three Piedmont Homes Damaged in Windstorm

High winds Thursday night and early Friday morning caused extensive damage and disruption in Piedmont, where trees fell on homes and cars, and in nearby areas of Oakland.

The Piedmont Police Department reported three homes damaged by falling branches and trees. Those houses were on St. James Drive, El Cerrito Avenue and Nova Drive.

Crews from the city's Public Works Department and PG&E were kept busy Thursday night and Friday removing fallen trees from roadways and repairing downed power lines.

A Public Works employee said late Friday afternoon that staff members were still assessing the extent of the damage.

In neighboring sections of Oakland, fallen trees and branches littered the roadways and sidewalks along Piedmont Avenue, and in the Rockridge, Montclair and Park Boulevard areas. At Lake Merritt, a 75-foot eucalyptus toppled in front of the Lake Chalet restaurant, the Oakland Tribune reported.

Two people were killed in wind-related accidents in Oakland. (See "More Details on 2 Wind-linked Deaths in Oakland" for more information.)

The North Oakland Hills recorded the East Bay's highest winds speed of about 65 miles per hour, the Tribune reported.

The strong winds also blew open gates and doors and broke some windows, setting off several security alarms.

Among the wind-related incidents in Piedmont:

—Fallen power lines with damage to a vehicle on Moraga Avenue at 6:20 p.m. Thursday night.

—An electric wire fell on a police patrol vehicle in the first block of Park Way at 7:16 p.m.

—A tree branch fell into the roadway in the 300 block of Magnolia Avenue about 7:40 p.m.

—A few minutes later, a tree branch blocked the road near the intersection of St. James Court and St. James Drive and another branch fell on a vehicle near the corner of Manor and Arroyo avenues.

—About 8:11 p.m., a large redwood tree crashed near the corner of Muir and La Salle Avenues "with a sound like a gunshot," one caller told police. The tree brought down 220-volt power lines.

—Between 8:30 and 9 p.m. Thursday, a large branch fell onto a house and vehicle on St. James Drive, a power line came down in the 200 block of Hillside Avenue and a falling branch brought down a power line on Harvard Road,

—A power line fell onto a vehicle on Park Way about 9:20 p.m., followed less than 10 minutes later by a tree damaging a house on El Cerrito Avenue.

—A tree fell onto a vehicle on Wildwood Avenue about 9:40 p.m.

—A caller told police at 10:17 p.m. that a tree fell onto his house on Nova Drive.

—A tree was blocking the roadway at Estates Drive and Park Boulevard in Oakland shortly after 6:30 a.m. Since Oakland clean-up crews were overloaded and didn't know when they could respond, the Piedmont Public Works Department sent a backhoe to remove the tree about an hour later.

—The Piedmont Highlander reported a large tree down in the center of Piedmont Park.

Do you know of additional wind damage in Piedmont and nearby? Tell us in the comments section below.