“ home with youngest daughter at the time - she grabbed kids and ran out of the house after the second tree hit and then the third hit and she ran across the street and the fourth fell and hit the living room. Once again they have been devastated, having lost everything.” Notes from damage surveys by local nonprofit organizations Community Bridges and Coongie offer a glimpse at some of the terror brought on by the storm: Early estimates from local nonprofits say trees wrecked 50 homes, possibly more, after a rare weather event sent 90 mph winds through the mountain community. This is the worst.”Īs the region’s eyes and resources zeroed in on the devastating aftermath of the March 11 Pajaro River levee breach, the Earth was crashing down on Boulder Creek. “I do s- like this every year after a windstorm or whatever, but this is beyond. “Holy s- is all I can say,” Pilgreen said as he rapidly thumps his hand over his heart and shakes his head in disbelief. Pilgreen’s eyes widen into a thousand-yard stare.

Yet the surprise storm that rolled through the Santa Cruz Mountains on March 21 was of a different magnitude. In 43 years of operating Travis Tree Professionals, Pilgreen has responded to countless natural disasters and tree catastrophes. The tall and otherwise jovial Pilgreen oversees a crew of roughly a dozen in neon vests and hard hats as a crane lifts the long trunk of a 100-year-old redwood from a two-story red house in Boulder Creek’s Riverside Grove neighborhood. “You cut the wrong part of the tree and put too much weight on the house, you can fall right through.”

“It’s like a chess game, and you cannot make the wrong move,” Pilgreen said, solemnly.

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