Fierce winds take down trees across Eastside

Trees across the Eastside were no match for the fierce winds that blew through Sunday morning. There were tree limbs, fallen leaves and other debris all over, from Sammamish to Issaquah to Mercer Island.

Two trees fell on a house on East Mercer Way on Mercer Island Sunday morning. No one was injured, but there is damage.

They didn’t puncture the roof, so initially, the damage seemed slight. But on closer inspection, we saw the trees pulled down the eaves wherever they landed.

By mid-afternoon, the tree had been cut up so that it was no longer blocking access to the dead-end street.

Eleven miles away, Adam Chandler awoke to a sound at the Juniper Wood apartment complex in Issaquah where he lives.

“I was partially asleep,” said Chandler. “It sounded like an earthquake rumbling, then a big thud to the building. And I said, ‘that’s not an earthquake.’ And I looked out the window and I see the tree up against this building here,” Chandler said. “It went through multiple windows and a wall when it hit.”

Incredibly, no one inside the units where it landed was hurt.

“There’s multiple windows out up here,” said Chandler. “Lucky, one guy downstairs didn’t get any windows blown out. He’s right underneath there.”

The wind continued to whip through the Eastside off and on much of the stormy Sunday. At East Sammamish Park, a huge tree fell across the neighboring yard and came to rest in the park. No one was hurt.

But the blustery weather has residents like Chandler looking up, wondering what else might come down.

“Some of these trees, maybe,” he said, warily. “And, if you look back there you can see all those wires leaning that weren’t leaning before.”

Mercer Island residents say trees topple there when the wind blows. But no one ever expects it to happen to them.

©2021 Cox Media Group