BEAVERTON, Ore. — The sound of chainsaws and blowers echoed throughout Southwest Portland Monday afternoon after a fierce weekend winter storm that hit the region with a mix of strong winds and bitter cold temperatures, toppling hundreds of trees. Huge branches and entire trees came crashing down onto cars, houses and powerlines.
"There are trees that have come over I never would have anticipated," said Joe Kittel, owner of Trees by Joe.
Kittel and his crew were busy Monday removing trees, branches and limbs from rooftops in the Cedar Mill neighborhood, which was hit especially hard by downed trees. Given the scale of the damage, Kittel said his work on Monday was just the beginning of the cleanup effort.
"The ground was pretty saturated and then this big wind came through," explained Kittel.
PHOTOS: Downed trees across Oregon as winter storm hits
Tree removal services citywide were swamped with requests for service Monday, and Kittel admits he's making no promises about how fast he can get to each job.
"I'd be lying if I said I could give them a time," said Kittel.
Along Southwest Taylor Street near 90th Avenue, several large trees crashed onto homes and power lines and smashed through a parked vehicle. A traffic signal at Northwest Cornell Road and and 118th Avenue took a direct hit from a fallen tree.
"This is the highest winds that we’ve ever experienced in all the years that we’ve lived here," said Larry Virgin, standing outside the Cedar Mill home he's lived in for more than 50 years.
A pair of huge trees crashed down onto his house on Saturday, leaving holes in the roof — but luckily it wasn't worse, he said, because his wife had been standing in the kitchen at the time.
"Two limbs come down in the kitchen, one came all the way through and fell on the floor in front of her," he said.
Falling trees resulted in two deaths on Saturday in separate incidents. One person died in Lake Oswego after a tree fell on a home, and another person was killed after a tree fell on an RV in Southeast Portland, which started a fire.
The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation has guidance for homeowners who suffered storm damage, including fallen trees or damages shingles.