Calaveras County neighbors recount tornado touchdown: "This was something different"
CALAVERAS COUNTY -- Early Tuesday morning, Jan. 10, the National Weather Service confirms an EF1 tornado with 90-mile-per-hour winds touched down in Calaveras County just after 4 a.m.
While no one was injured, the tornado knocked down dozens of trees and came within yards of homes.
"The wind was blowing hard but then there was a sudden 5 to 10 seconds of just, double that," said Dave Smith.
He admits, it is not every day you see a tornado touch down in the Golden State.
"Californians, we don't expect tornados. We get rough, rowdy weather," said Smith.
Smith and his wife Kami on 80 acres of land near New Hogan Lake about 20 minutes outside of Valley Springs.
He says waking up to howling winds was a shock.
"It was just screaming loud," said Smith. "The tornado warning flashed on her phone at around 3:30, 3:45 in the morning, woke us up."
Dozens of trees on their land were both toppled and snapped in two in the tornado's path.
With its 90-mile-per-hour winds, it only traveled about a half a mile. But it left behind a big mess.
"It was less than a hundred yards from the house, so we dodged a bullet on that one thankfully," said Smith.
Neighbor Richard Baker showed CBS13 photos of fallen trees at his home across the street.
"It just stayed a bad storm until about 4:30 and then it got really bad. I was comforting my dog who was scared to death," said Baker.
Grateful for no loss of life, still, Baker mourns his dozens of 100-year-old trees now gone.
"They're so old, they've survived fires and many wind storms. This was different," said Baker.
Just like so many parts of the region, cleanup will continue in Farmington for days with so many trees toppled. These neighbors are happy their homes were not severely damaged.
