RV's Crushed at Pismo Coast Village
This a little late, but I just got my laptop back from repair. About three weeks ago we were camping at Pismo Coast Village, Pismo, California, with a group of six RV's. Our first night, Sunday, we were sitting around the camp fire and discussing a large storm that was suppose to hit at midnight. About two months earlier, a storm hit the campground and two trees fell, crushing two RV's. We joked about how it couldn't happen again.
The storm hit at midnight and rained pretty hard. About 3:30am, there was what sounded like a large explosion. I had fallen asleep in the front of the coach and my wife ran up and asked if I heard the noise. It was still raining and then we heard a couple of branches fall and hit our motor home. A few minutes later the phone rang. Our friends who were camped next to us, said they were trapped in their motor home by a large tree. I got out a hand saw and cut away several branches so they could open the door. It was windy and rainy and we didn't realize it wasn't just branches, but a whole tree.
In this first photo, you see the tree that fell and crushed a 26' trailer down to the frame. The Monaco Camelot to the right, belongs to our friends and you can see where the branches were cut away from their front door. The empty space on the right is where we were camped, but moved across the street after the tree fell. I didn't trust the tree behind our coach.
This second photo is a 30' trailer that was across from us. The owner had just used the bathroom in the center of the coach nd gone back to bed.
The park has several of these trees, Monterey pines, which have probably been there for over 50 years. When you look at the root system, they only rooted to about 2-3 feet. The campground is about 100 yards from the ocean and apparently the salt water table is high and the trees don't root deeply. This is now four RV's crushed in about a 3 month period.
The storm hit at midnight and rained pretty hard. About 3:30am, there was what sounded like a large explosion. I had fallen asleep in the front of the coach and my wife ran up and asked if I heard the noise. It was still raining and then we heard a couple of branches fall and hit our motor home. A few minutes later the phone rang. Our friends who were camped next to us, said they were trapped in their motor home by a large tree. I got out a hand saw and cut away several branches so they could open the door. It was windy and rainy and we didn't realize it wasn't just branches, but a whole tree.
In this first photo, you see the tree that fell and crushed a 26' trailer down to the frame. The Monaco Camelot to the right, belongs to our friends and you can see where the branches were cut away from their front door. The empty space on the right is where we were camped, but moved across the street after the tree fell. I didn't trust the tree behind our coach.
This second photo is a 30' trailer that was across from us. The owner had just used the bathroom in the center of the coach nd gone back to bed.
The park has several of these trees, Monterey pines, which have probably been there for over 50 years. When you look at the root system, they only rooted to about 2-3 feet. The campground is about 100 yards from the ocean and apparently the salt water table is high and the trees don't root deeply. This is now four RV's crushed in about a 3 month period.
