Toppled tree causes power outage for 52 homes
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–Photo by Julie and Kent Dunkle
The spruce root lays predominantly out of the ground where it used to stand for over 150 years. The Dunkle yard has two remaining spruces in their front yard and one in the back yard.
POMEROY–Wind gusts of up to 50 m.p.h. downed a spruce tree in Julie and Kent Dunkle's High Street home's front yard last Friday afternoon January 7, 2022.
Unusually high wind gusts last Friday, coupled with wet ground conditions from recent snow melt, created the right condition for the 150-year-old spruce tree in the Dunkle front yard to fall diagonally across 2nd and High Streets, stopping traffic. The tree measuring well over 90 feet, missed surrounding buildings and avoided injuring any human or animal, but pulled internet, telephone and power lines down, leaving 52 homes without power for several hours.
-Photo by Stephanie Steynor
The once majestic 150-year-old spruce tree was blown out of the Dunkle front yard during the 50 mile per hour gust wind storm Friday, January 7, 2022. It laid silently across 2nd and High Streets after pulling utility lines down.
"Kent and I were in Lewiston when we got a call from Stephanie Steynor, a neighbor, about 2:30 p.m. letting us know that our tree had fallen, then sent us a picture of it," said Julie Dunkle.
"Our 2nd Street neighbor Kaden, witnessed the tree falling and hitting the power lines, eventually coming to rest on the ground. He saw sparks flying everywhere, an arched flash, kind of laser like," Kent Dunkle added.
Upon hearing the news their tree had fallen, cutting off street access in both directions and pulling down the wires hanging in its path, Kent Dunkle contacted the internet company, Pacific Power and the City of Pomeroy.
The power company went right to work getting the lines repaired and service restored, and the City Crew came out to buck the tree and move it off the street, working well into the evening hours.
Originally, there were three spruce trees in the front yard of the 1916 home and one in the back. Dunkle said they are remnants of what was once there when the Geiger family homesteaded the area, removing many of the trees to establish farm ground.
