Wind gusts snap trees throughout South Lake Tahoe

UPDATE 11PM: High winds snapped trees throughout South Lake Tahoe Thursday causing localized power outages and keeping tree removal and utility crews busy. A high wind warning for Lake Tahoe was issued by the National Weather Service in Reno and was set to expire Thursday night.
A large tree snapped and came down in the area of Lodi and Knox streets in South Lake Tahoe at around 12:20 p.m. Thursday, clipping a house and taking power and cable lines down with it. Liberty Energy has worked through this afternoon to get lines fixed. South Lake Tahoe Fire Department arrived first on the scene. The lines, some of which were said to be high voltage, had blocked multiple areas of the street. No injuries were reported. The owner of the home was inside at the time. The lines were across yards and in driveways.

Meanwhile, a tree reportedly also blew down striking a Zephyr Cove come causing some structural damage. At around 12:30 a tree reportedly fell on the roadway of Pioneer trail and Golden Bear blocking traffic and at around 1:05 primary power lines were reportedly down at the intersection of Highway 50 and Johnson Pass Road. Echo Pass Road was reportedly blocked temporarily due to a downed tree. Power lines were also reportedly down on Jewell, Herbert, and at Crystal Air. At 3:36 this afternoon there was a report of trees down on cable and telephone lines in the 700 block of Modesto, and a tree was reported down in the 1300 block of Angora Lakes Road, which caused access problems to the road. Authorities said it would be closed temporarily, according to police scanner traffic. At 3:43 a report surfaced of a tree down on Pioneer Trail near the Al Tahoe intersection that was blocking traffic and a tree came down in the 800 block of Los Angeles. At 4:12 a tree reportedly fell on a home in the 2500 block of Armstrong Avenue.

Liberty Energy restored power to about 600 Sierra Tract customers after winds knocked a tree into power lines on Thursday morning.