PAYSON, Utah — Heavy gusts of wind destroyed power lines and trees in parts of Utah County on Monday. Many are dealing with the aftermath, including the Gariety family in Payson.
“It was a bit stressful,” Dallin told Gariety. His wife and three children were inside when a pine tree fell on their home in their front yard.
“The wind got really crazy, crazier than I’ve ever seen,” recalled Andrea, Dallin’s wife. “I heard a tremendous creaking and when I looked outside I saw that the tree was on top of our house.”
It wasn’t just this home. Neighbors said they had never seen so much wind here and saw many downed trees and power lines all over Payson.
“It was scary,” Andrea said.
The family works to get the tree out of the house until they know what’s next.
“The damage was quite extensive. It was a 50-foot pine tree that smashed in much of the roof,” Dallin said. “You can’t see much of the damage from the inside, but we have holes sticking through the walls and through the ceiling.”
Whitelock Tree Services is a local business helping to retrieve the tree from the family home. They also cleared a fallen tree in the neighboring yard. The crew of two say the wind kept them busy.
“It was continuous,” said Daniel Whitelock. He and his son-in-law, Jadee Thompson, run the company. “We went home at 11:30pm last night and have been back since 6am this morning.”
They said it’s important to look in your trees for signs that they may be dying.
“Look at the cracked bark on the underside of the trunk and if you see dead spots on the underside of the trunk, rotten spots, look for them and pay attention,” Whitelock said
Andrea and Dallin say their neighborhood saved them.
“They helped get the kids out, loads of people came over to help, they got us dinner, our neighbors put up a bouncy castle for the kids to play,” Andrea said. “I just feel very, very loved and grateful for this community”
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