SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Roofers and tree removal companies across San Diego County worked overtime following the Christmas Eve storm, assessing damage and preparing homes for incoming rain.
Around 1 p.m. on Christmas Eve along Del Cerro Boulevard, Stephen Searles and his husband were FaceTiming with family when powerful winds broke off a massive eucalyptus branch in their back yard, slamming it into their roof.
"Out of nowhere, the house just shook," Searles said. "Let's just say there's been a lot of bad jokes on whether Santa came early.”
Dana Logsdon's roofing company received about 70 calls in a two-hour span on Christmas Eve as the storm wreaked havoc across the county.
"We had about 30 calls for roofs blown off. The phones just went crazy," Logsdon said.
Two days later, crews from CM Precision Tree used a crane to remove the branch from Searles' roof before Logsdon climbed onto the roof to assess the damage.
"The way the tree hit, we only have about 65 tiles broken, instead of hundreds," Logsdon said.
After further inspection, Logsdon discovered that emergency tarping wouldn't be needed to protect the roof ahead of more rain.
"The underlayment is good, I just saw that," Logsdon said.
An hour later at a home in La Mesa, I watched as Logsdon performed another inspection where winds had peeled off part of a flat roof over the patio onto a section of shingles and solar panels.
"This is a lot of damage," Logsdon said.
After taking a closer look, Logsdon determined emergency measures wouldn't be necessary there either.
"We're not going to have to do tarping. This will get through another rain or so and then we can get an estimate to put this thing back together," Logsdon said.
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