"When you get more than a year's worth of rain in two months, the soil becomes saturated," Lisa Smith, a master arborist, tells Inside Edition. Smith specializes in tree risk assessment, and says this winter "has been a bellwether."
Falling trees are becoming a big, and potentially fatal, problem in areas of the country that are experiencing record rainfall.
In San Francisco, a giant tree crashed down on a church, narrowly missing the 17 people who were inside at the time.
At the San Antonio Zoo, a giant tree branch was seen breaking off following a rainy morning.
In another incident, a family was trapped under the massive branch, and one of their children was rushed to the hospital. She is in critical condition.
It even happened during one man's interview with local news in Northern California.
And in Los Angeles, one couple decided to take action after hearing a massive tree came crashing down around 2 a.m., narrowly missing not only their home but also the home of their neighbors.
"At two o'clock in the morning, the tree fell, crashed down," Kenneth Elconin tells Inside Edition. "The [neighbors] are sleeping. Luckily, it missed their bedroom."
Kenneth and his wife Roslyn did not want to risk a repeat of that situation, and decided to remove a pair of 135-foot tall Tory Pines they fear could be the next to fall.
The one tree still standing on their property is the scariest of them all, however, as it is right next to powerline and could cause an even greater disaster if it falls.
"When you get more than a year's worth of rain in two months, the soil becomes saturated," Lisa Smith, a master arborist, tells Inside Edition.
Smith specializes in tree risk assessment, and says this winter "has been a bellwether reminding us that we need to be inspecting our trees." She urges people to looks for the key factors that suggest a tree might fall,
"Those factors in include leaning trees, trees that are dead, that the tree is elevated, hasn't been pruned," Smith says.
