WEATHER

‘It was wild’: Dangerous winds rip up trees in northern Utah

Mar 10, 2023, 4:25 PM | Updated: Mar 11, 2023, 1:31 pm

SANDY, Utah —High winds blew across the northern part of Utah Thursday night into Friday morning knocking down trees and causing power outages.

Some homeowners in Sandy woke up as early as 3 a.m. to the sound of gusting winds as high as 50 miles per hour.

Massive trees were uprooted and fell on driveways, homes, and cars. One tree fell across two cars.

The damage went beyond Sandy into Draper.

A tree fell into a home leaving a mess across a large portion of the house.

Back in Sandy Flynn Wallace woke up to the sound of his dogs barking.

The winds ripped His family’s favorite tree from a parking strip and toppled it over a fence.

He spent the morning trying to chop up the tree but he gave up and started to call tree removal services.

He said his dogs need the yard, so removing the tree was urgent.

He said last night’s winds were powerful. “It was loud,” Wallace said. “We were glad it didn’t hit the car so a little relieved actually.”

Across the street, his neighbor was looking over the siding ripped from her home.

A tree standing in Nita Shutt’s yard for 45 years was lying across the driveway and two cars.

“My dogs were going crazy so I was like, okay let’s go see what’s going on,” Shutt said. “And I walked up, we have this big window right there and I saw we have this giant tree over my car. It was wild.”

Shutt said her family was grateful the tree didn’t fall onto the road or hit anyone else’s house. She said no one was hurt.

Several contractors were scattered across the area removing the mess from downed trees and broken branches.

The wind also knocked out power in several areas. Rocky Mountain Power vehicles were in neighborhoods as workers restored power.

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‘It was wild’: Dangerous winds rip up trees in northern Utah