Cars and homes damaged by fallen trees in San Antonio due to icy conditions

SAN ANTONIO — Toppled trees wreaked havoc in the San Antonio area as cars and homes were left damaged. CPS Energy said trees were the main culprit for leaving thousands in the dark Thursday.

Meanwhile city crews with Public Works cleaned up messes. The city tweeted a photo where you could see a tree just fell in the middle of a street. https://twitter.com/SAPublicWorks/status/1489372377502949385

On Thursday morning, Cristian Marquez woke up to a big mess.

“I didn’t see my car initially,” he said. As, soon I got close I saw this tree the way it is right now all over the car.”

He lives at a northeast side apartment complex where trees covered in ice fell over. His car was not so lucky. One tree landed right smack in the middle of his set of wheels.

“The glass is broke,” he said. I am sure there is interior damage.”

A KENS 5 Eyewitness sent in video from Hollywood Park that showed a massive tree tumbling over. In the video you see part of it landing on the roof of a home. The whipping winds and the ice did not help. Experts said ice can increase the weight of branches up to 30 times. Shane Kelly owns Canopy Tree Service and is also a certified arborist. He said since Wednesday night, he has been getting calls for help.

“A lady had branches on her roof last night and hitting her window,” he said.

Kelly did not put his crews on the roads and took a day to stay safe.

“It is going to bend like a fishing pole,” he said.

He said this arctic blast is a good test for your trees at home. If they aren’t tilt over, you are in good shape.

“You might have some broken limbs,” he said. Or if you have any weak spots in the trees they are going to break now. Most will bend down and come back up.”

CPS Energy said they have a good system down when a tree falls and impacts power lines. It is dangerous. So, first CPS Energy will call up a tree service company and then the utility’s crew comes in to troubleshoot the problem. If you have a toppled tree or see one you can call the city at 311. On Thursday, city crews removed more than two dozen trees.