Wearing a bright yellow vest, Ron Krueger pushed a buzzing chainsaw through what remained of a basswood tree resting at a 45-degree angle near the corner of Front and Main streets Tuesday afternoon in downtown Niles.

“It was a pretty tree,” said the longtime member of the city’s street division.

The basswood was one of two uprooted near Riverfront Park during a brief, but powerful storm that blew through Niles Monday evening.

A red maple and a pine tree in the same vicinity were also casualties of the storm.

Krueger estimates the basswoods were there some 15 to 20 years.

Joe Ray, the city’s public works director, said the city would likely wait to replace the trees until

after the completion of the Main Street Bridge replacement project, which is scheduled to begin later this year.

Also Tuesday, a portion of Bond Street near Riverview Drive was closed while crews worked to remove a tree that fell into a power line. The bicycle trail near there was also closed as the tree had fallen across the trail just south of where it crosses Bond Street.