San Francisco Public Works employees cut and clear a large tree which fell on a car in Noe Valley on Jan. 5, 2023.
Michaela Vatcheva, Freelance / Special to The ChronicleA wave of recent storms brought heavy winds and rainfall to the Bay Area, causing flood damage and power outages. Data shows that San Franciscans are also dealing with a huge spike in fallen trees as a result of recent inclement weather.
Extreme winds from the atmospheric river storm last Wednesday downed numerous trees, disrupting traffic and disabling electrical lines . A total of 289 reports were made to 311 about fallen trees in the first seven days of 2023, city data shows. In comparison, there were only 27 fallen tree reports made in the entire month of January in 2022.
The data from the city’s 311 database shows that the highest number of reports were made on Wednesday, Jan. 4, at 109. The following day, 79 reports about fallen trees were called in.
The Mission was the neighborhood with the most 311 calls about fallen trees, with a total of 15 reports so far this month. The Outer Sunset followed with 12 and the Golden Gate Heights and Western Addition neighborhoods followed with 11 calls each.
The Department of Public Works is the agency typically responsible for responding to these reports. So far this year, 27 cases have been closed and considered “resolved.” A total of 456 cases were resolved in 2022 and of those, about 46% were resolved within a day.
The data in this story was updated at 9 a.m. on Jan. 11, 2023.
Adriana Rezal is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: adriana.rezal@sfchronicle.com
