By Mary O’KEEFE

The recent wind event that blew through the foothills caused several power outages, scattered debris and downed trees.

Trees fell on, and near, houses including in the areas of Irving Avenue and Ridgepine Drive in La Crescenta. There were also trees tossed well below Foothill Boulevard including one on La Crescenta Avenue at the La Crescenta Woman’s Club.

According to Mike Wofford, meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the strongest winds in the Crescenta Valley occurred on March 14 about 3:30 a.m. with gusts up to 42 miles per hour.

Our local trees have been through a lot lately. There was the drought that California suffered through for years, which can cause tree stress.

Trees contain roots that differ in size.

“Coarse roots are responsible for anchoring trees to the soil and serve as organs to transport water from deeper soil horizons. Fine roots are important for the uptake of water and nutrients. Fine roots are typically described by several different traits such as biomass, lifespan and specific root length,” according to the National Library of Medicine/National Center for Biotechnology Information. “There is increasing evidence that drought can influence the structure and growth of both coarse and fine tree roots.”

Though Southern California is currently out of the drought that does not mean that trees have recovered. Then there has been rain ­– lots of rain – that has saturated the soil.

Last week saw a perfect storm of conditions: trees that were coping with drought recovery, saturating rain and high winds, which resulted in some trees toppling.

Trees that are on private property are the responsibility of the home or business owner, those that fall onto Los Angeles County property or that affect roadways are taken care of by Public Works.

“LA County Public Works reports eight downed trees and eight downed tree limbs from the March 14-15 windstorm in La Crescenta-Montrose. All of the fallen trees and limbs have been removed and the roads are safe. Debris removal is expected to be completed within two weeks,” according to a LA Public Works spokesperson.

If residents encounter a fallen tree, contact Public Works at 1-800-675-HELP (4357). For non-urgent requests, visit pw.lacounty.gov or download The Works app.