Storms tear apart communities but bring neighbors together
NORTH OAK PARK (CBS13) - While the wind and rain has torn communities apart, it's also bringing neighbors closer together. Scattered branches and uprooted trees are peppered throughout North Oak Park.
In one neighborhood, a huge tree limb came crashing down on a car.
"It was pretty loud and I think that it was really scary. People were worried about houses and cars and people being out," said Noelle Szombathy.
But that's when Szombathy saw something she hadn't seen on her street before. She watched her community start gathering. Families became more than the people next door. They became neighbors.
"I remember hearing a lot of people yelling across the street, 'hey are you guys ok?' said Szombathy. "We had another neighbor come out with chainsaws. We had two chainsaws cutting up the tree. All of the neighbors poured out. My little two-year-old daughter was helping rake up the leaves and the branches and everybody cleaned up the street before the city could even get to it."
The broken trees are forcing people to branch out and turning a neighborhood into a community.
"These two piles were made by neighbors helping when a large branch fell in the road," said Allyson Seconds. "It says a lot about humanity. People in need, people step up. It's really great."
"It definitely made me feel much more confident and welcome in my community. It made me realize how much of a community we really are because I saw everybody helping," said Szombathy.
The good deeds don't stop here. Seconds also leads the group 'Sacramento Picks It Up.' Once the weather clears up and it's safe, volunteers will be out cleaning up storm debris along rivers and creeks.