Huge oak falls in Healdsburg, knocks out power, breaks water line

For decades, the mighty oak tree in front of Kathy Dunn’s 1880s Healdsburg farmhouse had provided shade during hot summer days.

The 50- to 60-foot tree toppled from its sentinel position late Sunday with a thunderous clap, pulling down power lines and breaking a water main.

It missed nearby homes and parked vehicles as it fell about 7:50 p.m. across West Matheson Street - a rural, county residential lane just west of Highway 101. Dunn said its size had been a concern of hers.

“We’ve always worried about that tree, if it came down, knowing it could be terrible,” Dunn said Monday afternoon. “It was truly a miracle it landed the way it did in the street. We’re just thankful no one was hurt. It missed our house and the house across the street.”

Dunn and her husband, Ron Dunn, were home when the tree crashed down. The power of it shook the house, and the thunderous sound was heard by neighbors up and down the street.

Ron Dunn initially thought the noise was from one of the massive tree limbs breaking off. But the couple found the whole tree gone, splayed across the road and stretching into neighbors’ front yards. A city water main near the foot of the tree broke, and the neighborhood was left in darkness after the oak brought down the power lines.

Healdsburg firefighters, PG&E and city water workers and a Sonoma County road crew responded to the aftermath.

Falling trees are common in Sonoma County, especially with stormy weather. Firefighters routinely cut up the trees and clear them from roadways in minutes before moving on to other calls. Not this time.

“It was too big to cut,” Healdsburg Fire Engineer Justin Potter said.

He estimated that chopped, the oak would fill 10 dump trucks and provide a couple dozen cords of wood. The mountain of limbs and branches was cleared Monday by county road workers. A PG&E outage report showed 28 customers were without power overnight, but had it restored Monday afternoon.

What caused the tree to fall wasn’t officially known, but likely had to do with saturated ground. Last week’s heavy rainfall was coupled with a leak last week in the city’s water main, which had been repaired, Dunn said.

On Monday, a city water crew was back on the property to fix the new problem.

The Dunns have lived on the property for more than 35 years, and they estimated the oak was as many as 200 years old.

“It’s so sad. We’re going to count the rings when we get into it to see how old it was,” Kathy Dunn said. “It was probably the biggest one on the street overall. Little by little they are being removed or falling down.”

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 707-521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.