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Monsoon socks Winterhaven

Downed trees and high water
Posted at 5:50 PM, Jun 27, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-27 20:50:16-04
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Nature came down hard on the Winterhaven neighborhood Sunday night.
     
Monday, residents were clearing out minor damage from downed trees, and trying to figure out what to do about major problems like this-- a massive tree big enough to damage two houses when it fell last night.
 
we waited and hoped for the monsoon to bring some relief from the terrible heat.  It finally rolled in and neighborhoods like Winterhaven paid the price.
        
In Winterhaven, Bentley Avenue seemed to get the worst of it.  A huge old tree uprooted and fell on two homes.
         
Plenty of other big old trees came down and neighbors came out to clear them. Melissa Evers says two large trees kept residents from driving in or out.
 
She says, "And about ten minutes later we had a gentleman show up with a chainsaw.  My husband brought his out.  There were about two dozen neighbors that were just cutting the trees down, hauling it out of the way and we spent about  45 that to helping each other so cars could get in and out and people could get into their homes."
 
Big trees went down in plenty of spots around Winterhaven and posed a real challenge to work crews cutting thick tree trunks down to something small enough to cart away.
 
A few blocks away tree surgeons were cutting damage, and grinding into chips parts of a tree Jean Groman has known for her 30-plus years living here
 
"We were inside until the electricity went out and it was just a big roar and wind and rain and sheeting of the rain, amazing."
 
At least the downed tree branches were good news for someone.  They added some variety to the diet of the elephants at Tucson’s Reid Park Zoo.  Zoo workers collected mesquite branches, avoiding the ones with big thorns, and fed them to the Zoo’s elephant family.
      
Wind and downed trees were not the only trouble monsoon brought in.
 
Besides downed trees, Winterhaven had some serious street flooding in the monsoon Sunday night.   Some of the lawns show lines that are the giveaway that water made it out of the street  and about halfway towards the homes.
      
Sunday, El Corral restaurant on River Road had a small river of its own flowing inside.  KGUN9 viewer Kristen Rademacher caught video as workers tried to get the water out.
       
Monday, the restaurant promised to open as usual while work crews were upgrading storms drains to keep water out the next time storms roll in.