BRIGHTON, Colo. — Several streets in Brighton are littered with tree branches and debris after a storm swept through the city and surrounding areas on Saturday. On some streets, residents are left cleaning up massive trees that were taken down by the wind.
Paul Malloy has lived in his Brighton home for almost ten years. He said his home is 120 years old, and a maple tree that stood in front of the property at around 40 feet tall had been there for at least a century.
Malloy was out of town on Saturday when he got a call from a neighbor saying three of his trees had fallen in the storm. One of his neighbor's homes was hit by the falling trees and suffered some damage.
“It's heartbreaking to see this tree come down. I feel sorry for my neighbors that my trees did damage to their house," said Malloy.
Starting at around 7 on Saturday evening, Shawn Brandau from Creative Tree and Stump was at Malloy's home working on repairing the damage. Brandau was there until nearly midnight and returned to the home by 8:30 Sunday morning. The goal is to finish the work at Malloy's home on Monday.
“There's a jungle in here... We want to get this sidewalk cleared out so that people can walk through here and he can get his fence back up," said Brandau, whose company removes trees, specializes in dangerous tree removal, and provides 24-hour emergency service.
Brandau said the destruction at Malloy's home was the biggest job they tackled after Saturday's storm. However, he left Malloy's around midday to help clear more trees from other cars and homes in the area.
Malloy believes completely cleaning up his yard will take around a week.
United Power experienced a storm-related power outage in Brighton on Saturday that started around 4:35 p.m. The outage impacted an estimated 1,168 members in the area of Bush Street and 4th Avenue. Power has since been restored, according to an update from United Power Inc.