WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — Where you live in the Salt Lake Valley determined whether you bore the brunt of the wind and rain on Tuesday night.
The storms didn’t last very long, but in some neighborhoods, like one in West Valley City, the rain came down hard while the winds blew fast and furious, resulting in some flooding and a few trees going down.
A day later, the sound of chainsaws filled the air Wednesday on Manhattan Street.
Brian Behrmann said his work began during the storm as he and his children checked out storm clouds in the backyard. By the time he walked out to the front yard, Behrmann said his massive, old tree had fallen, and he never heard a thing.
“It fell quietly, the tree fell quietly, peacefully," laughed Behrmann.
Neighbors showed up with equipment of their own to work on the clean-up. Behrmann realized he was lucky that the tree didn’t fall on his house.
“It did hit the fence, but yeah, if you could choose where, that would be it for sure,” he said.
Just up the street, Lori Waterman watched as a team cleaned up the remains of a tree that had been part of her property since she was a baby. Her mom, who recently passed away, planted it in the 1960s, and it was her favorite.
“When the rain started, I got a little scared because it was so windy! I went to my front door, and I looked out, and that’s when it just split, the tree just split,” explained Waterman.
Waterman’s sister, Debbie Ventura, wondered if their mom’s spirit kept the tree from falling on the house.
“Yeah, maybe so?" she said. "I think we’re going to have to get another mimosa tree?”
Right around the corner, Teresa and Mark Miera were dealing with their own mess following the storm that caught them a little off guard.
“All of a sudden it just downpoured!" said Teresa. "I mean, it just came like buckets of rain!”
For Mark, it had been a while since he experienced a storm such as the one Tuesday night.
“It hit hard! We had a little flood down the street; garbage cans were going down the street," he said.
In the few moments it took the Mieras to retrieve their trash cans, they returned and found their old shade tree was down and on their home. Teresa didn’t hear a thing and only realized the tree was down while trying to look out the kitchen window.
“...right there next to the window, you know, I can’t see out because there’s a pine tree!" she explained. "So I go outside to look at the pine tree, and I’m like, 'Oh, my God, the fence is gone too!'”
Everyone impacted said it only amounted to material damage that can and will be cleaned up, and they’re just glad no one was hurt.
