A week after a string of storms drenched Fountain Hills there are still broken limbs and trees scattered about, waiting for landscape crews to catch up with the monsoon mayhem.

More than three inches of rain falling in some parts of town softened the desert soil and made top-heavy trees easy prey for 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts.

Stalwarts of the desert, saguaro and ocotillo cacti also lost their tenuous grip on the sandy soil. Serina Alashi, an assistant manager at Verde Valley Nursery in Fountain Hills, said their landscape crews are busy cleaning up, replacing and repairing damaged landscaping. In some cases they are able to right the plant and secure it to continue growing where it is, she said.

Alashi said Verde Valley crews have been starting at 5:30 a.m. to catch up on a backlog of calls totaling 50 or more, from regular maintenance customers and new people looking for someone to help.

Multiply the Verde Valley workload by the numerous other landscaping companies working in town to get a basic picture of the damage.

Getting a clear cost of the damage can be difficult. There is the basic cleaning up and carting away downed trees, and then consideration of replacement costs, when all totaled could reflect tens of thousands of dollars communitywide.

Town of Fountain Hills Director of Administration Dave Trimble can present some general numbers related to insurance claims.

The town uses the Arizona Municipal Risk Retention Pool (AMRRP) which covers approximately 75 cities and towns in the state making the town’s coverage typical of those statewide, according to Trimble.

The pool has a deductible of $5,000 per incident with a maximum reimbursement of $1,000 per tree.

“We think that two storm events this monsoon season have produced damages that are likely to exceed the…deductible and we have filed claims for both with AMRRP,” Trimble said.

One of the storms Trimble is referring to is the one Aug. 12 that took down the large eucalyptus tree on Avenue of the Fountains. Other damages include numerous additional trees, street clean-up, as well as awnings and fences in parks.

“We have been fortunate that the storms have not caused injuries to employees, despite long hours worked by both streets and parks employees,” Trimble said.

Town-owned buildings have been relatively free of damage, according to Trimble. He said staff is addressing some issues with leaky windows and doors, but no significant damage.

Keeping the streets clear has posed something of an issue for staff.

“Street cleanup has been particularly challenging with the timing of the storms,” Trimble said. “It seems once our employees and contractors get the streets cleared of mud, dirt and rock another storm hits and they have to start all over again.

“Due to the massive amounts of dirt that has washed across multiple streets this monsoon season, the streets division has rented a large end loader to help speed the process of clearing the affected streets.”

The National Weather Service official monsoon end date is still more than a month away, Sept. 30. While the peak for storm activity is between mid-July and mid-August, it might be agreed that this season has not been typical.