Crews working to clear downed trees after powerful winter storm

Los Angeles public works crews are working to clear all of the trees knocked down by a pair of powerful storms that wreaked havoc across the city.

"I'm assuming it's totaled, but you know, we'll see," said Brian Otto. 

Otto's car was one of two parked vehicles crushed underneath a massive tree in Valley Village. The tree also uprooted a sidewalk as it slammed onto the ground.

"We all heard it happen, so we rushed outside to see what happened," Otto said. "Rushed over to make sure no one was in any of the cars."

Otto's car was just a glimpse of the many trees that fell onto cars, homes and blocked roads throughout Los Angeles County. 

According to the Department of Public Works, the downed tree is one of the 598 tree emergencies crews responded to in the last two weeks. So far, Urban Forestry workers have cleared more than 80% of the downed trees, one of which fell onto a clean-up crew's van in Pasadena.

The damage done was a stark reminder of what climate scientists have been warning about: that our current drought emergency has left the soil in Southern California critically dry.   

The arid climate has left the area vulnerable to a large amount of rain in a short amount of time — exactly what happened with these two past storms. 

"I'm very grateful for the city workers who got here so fast to clean this up," said homeowner Adrianna Ojel.

Another storm is forecasted to hit Southern California this weekend.