Trees, Power Lines Take A Beating From The Wet Snow

DENVER (CBS4) - The new snow that hit the metro area was full of a lot of moisture and caused problems for residents and Xcel Energy Monday morning.

Tree branches really took a beating from the latest round of snow, but some tree companies say despite the heavy snowfall, they haven't had very many calls to cleanup broken branches. One tree company told CBS4 they had several crews out Monday working on storm damage. He said they've had about a dozen calls, most of which are in the Littleton area, but the extent of the damage hasn't been too bad.

Denver Public Works sent out some tips for residents who might want to protect their trees from the May storm. They say when removing snow, watch out for power lines. If there are no utility lines, use a broom to remove as much as snow as possible.

When dealing with broken branches, property owners are responsible for cleaning up debris that's on private property or on the public right-of-way adjacent to their property. If a tree limb is broken on a public right-of-way, homeowners can contact the Denver Forestry.

Ron Mason, a Washington Park resident, said he didn't want to wait for the tree branches in front of his home to break, so he took it upon himself to free the branches from snow.

"I think the spring snow crab tree is a pretty sturdy tree, but I can tell by hitting the branches they are carrying a huge amount of weight, so who knows?" Mason said.

As for power outages, Xcel Energy saw tens of thousands of customers lose power. A spokesman for the company said power has largely been restored.