Heavy rain causes number of downed trees throughout Southland

Heavy rains caused a number of issues across the Southland on Thursday, with many flooded roads and fallen trees reported as a result of the atmospheric river that doused the state. 

In West Hollywood, a giant eucalyptus tree fell, landing on two separate vehicles on Lexington Avenue at around 7 a.m. 

Public works crews could be seen chopping the tree into pieces as they cleared the scene. 

Firefighters took initiative after the incident, checking other trees in the neighborhood to ensure there were no repeat instances. 

One Sherman Oaks resident, who took advantage of a brief break in rain with his dog, came home to find his nearly 100-year-old Jacaranda tree had uprooted from his yard and onto his neighbor's car. 

"I didn't hear or see anything happen until I walked around the corner," said Kevin Delaney. "The tree was across the street, crushed my neighbor's car." 

While he's lucky that the tree didn't fall into the other direction — his home — Delaney is also thankful that no one was injured in the incident. 

"I'm just thankful nobody got hit or hurt or major property damage," he said. "It's a blessing."

William McKinley, a local arborist, said that this occurrence is quite common when there's a lot of rain. 

"It's the older larger trees that we typically see and hear about failures and breakage," McKinley said. "The important thing to remember when you have trees growing over your house is to have them regularly pruned and inspected by a certified arborist."

Other uprooted trees were reported in Burbank, Beverly Hills and Somas in Ventura County