Los Angeles residents recovering from storm that knocked down trees, took out power

STUDIO CITY, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — With last week’s massive storm done, now the cleanup begins.

Many communities throughout the San Fernando Valley and other parts of Los Angeles were hit by falling trees, power outages and flooded roads.

One neighborhood in Studio City was left in the dark for days after a massive tree came crashing down, taking a transformer with it.

Dozens of homes on Arch Drive in Studio City lost power starting Friday night at least through late Sunday.

“We have elderly, we have newborn babies, people with chronic illnesses,” said local resident Michele Marotta. “So we need our power.”

The tree came down on the property of an apartment complex. Residents say they were told Los Angeles Department of Water and Power crews couldn’t turn the power back on until the tree was removed.

And that was more difficult than expected.

Residents claim DWP crews were denied access to the apartment complex property to remove the tree.

So neighborhood residents got together themselves and hired workers to chop up the fallen trunk and clear the road.

“The whole entire neighborhood came together and and we’re all paying for it,” said one resident.

In Burbank, a massive tree came crashing down on a home, causing significant damage.

“They told me that the Earth was shaking,” said Harley Tobin, relaying his conversation with neighbors. “It was so loud that it woke them all up. And the lady that lives next door, her house was just devastated.”

As of Monday morning, DWP said there were about 27,000 customers still affected by outages. The utility had restored power to more than 140,000 customers.