We really got nailed by last night's storm. We still do not have power. Several very large branches came down from my cedar elm, but they missed the house by a few feet, thank goodness.
I also have a 20 ft bur oak that I planted 5 years ago. Last night, I
it develped a rather severe lean about halfway up. The base of the trunk is still mostly vertical. Will it straighten up over time, or should I do something about it? It isnn't broken, just bent.
Storm damage
I feel your pain Dennis, we too got hit with high winds and heavy downpours. Our drainage is horrible in this area (near Hulen Mall FW) and we were flooded 3 years ago. Now we have had a repeat. We have a real deep lot but the drainage intake is just over the fence in the back. The force of the water knocked down one cyclone fence then when the drain can't hold anymore it starts backing up in the yard. It got above my Koi pond again and we lost two more fish. We had managed to get one captured after the water started down. Today I went out in the yard and heard popping sounds, looked up just in time to get a look at a small tree of the neighbor's split and fall in our yard. It flooded our shop with about 8-10 inches of water, turning everything over that floated. Any of my potted plants outside were taken for a ride too. Water came in the from under the garage door and front door too, but no damage. Such a mess, but alas it could have been worse.
I just got back from the park behind my house, and the large pecan tree with the plaque certifying that it was there at the signing of the Declaration of Independence was completely uprooted. pretty bad.
How sad Dennis about that Pecan tree, irreplaceable I think.
Sorry about your power being gone too.
Sheila, bless your heart I am sorry about the damage at your house too, the rain was incredible. We had some minor damage, but nothing to speak of, just some branches.
Josephine.
We had lots of downpouring rain, lightening, some hail, and very high winds. The wind broke a branch off of a tree in my back yard. I was tense a few times because it looked as if my house may get flooded, but, thank God, that did not happen.
I received this email newsletter from Neil Sperry today on just this topic:
neil sperry's e-gardens
Special for: May 3, 2007
Dealing With the Windstorms
Large parts of Texas have received strong storms in recent days with another powerful round rolling through last night. Driving through neighborhoods where large limbs and entire trees were down I observed several things that need to be noted immediately.
If you see downed power lines, do not attempt to do anything near them. Call 911 immediately and leave that work to the professionals.
Similarly, if a large tree has fallen or become significantly weakened, call for professional help of a licensed and well-trained arborist. They are skilled at tree repair and removal in and around buildings. This is not a job for an amateur.
If smaller limbs (up to 3 or 4 inches in diameter) have been blown out of your trees there are probably some jagged stubs left behind. Carefully remove those stubs so that there will be a smooth surface near the remaining trunk or branch. You'll want to leave approximately one-quarter-inch of the branch collar in place after you make the cut. The branch collar is the "delta" of the branch, that is, the swollen area where the branch attaches to the trunk. Leaving just a bit of the collar in place following pruning quickens the healing process.
Do not apply pruning sealants to most of these cut surfaces, although oaks specifically should have a light dose of sealant to prevent entry of insects that could carry the oak wilt fungus.
If you have a larger tree whose trunk has begun to show a split you should call a professional. They will know whether drilling and bolting the tree would be a solution. Cabling higher up in the tree may even be recommended. Do not attempt to band such a situation since anything you wrap around a tree's trunk will eventually girdle and kill it. Do not attempt to climb any tree that appears to have been damaged by the wind.
I saw many first and second year landscape trees blown over from the wind. I suspect the very wet soils that resulted from recent rains aided in their poor anchoring. Trees that have been blown out-of-plumb must be righted, preferably immediately. The entire root ball will need to be reset. You cannot simply pull a trunk into a straight line and stake it to hold it there. You have to reestablish the root system correctly so that the trunk emerges from the ground at the same angle it originally did. Once repositioned, the tree can be staked securely to prevent this from happening again.
Finally, because of all the wind there will be hundreds of Bradford pear issues that have cropped up. There always are. They are notoriously poorly branched due to their very narrow branch angles. Most Bradford pears split down their middles before they reach even 10 years of age. Other varieties of ornamental pears will do the same thing, but Bradfords are best known for it. Experience has shown us that, once split, these trees will never regain their symmetry and beauty. They should be taken down and replaced before other major branches follow the lead of these first broken ones.
Another Note of Interest:
Those of you in the Lake Lavon service area (primarily Collin County) where residents have been told that Stage 3 water curtailments will automatically be extended through the end of this calendar year may want to track a few Websites today. Rivers and creeks feeding into Lake Lavon are fully flooding and out of their banks this morning, May 3. Lake levels are rising rapidly. Want to see the real facts of the water curtailment? You may have your eyes opened! Click here for links to the official websites that will show you those facts. (I'll give you a clue - we will ask the question, "Why are we in Stage Anything?"
what is the link?
There wasn't a link....it was an email newsletter. But here is a link to his website:
http://www.neilsperry.com/
I just checked the extended forecast for next week. Looks like were in for some more storms. Hopefully, with less wind. My sister, in Euless, had a tree fall down Wednesday, and we didn't have any power at work yesterday.
I'll be collecting rain water in empty garbage cans and large plastic storage containers. Wish I had a barrel/rain gutter system. Might put this on the to do list.
We had lots of wind and rain here. Our street floods, but none of the houses ever have. The water wouldn't have been too bad if it weren't for all the idiots in SUV's that come speeding through the high water, sending a wake that washes up over my flower beds. I've lost some bedding plants to that and some of the stems on the Black & Blue salvias broke in the wind. All in all, it could have been a lot worse. I'm glad we had the dieing tree removed last year or it might have been through the front bedroom!
I heard about the power outages in Fort Worth on the radio. I'm north of Houston and we got some storms but nothing too damaging. I used to live farther in though, so I know it gets pretty bad. I didn't mulch the front bed too well (my own fault, I have the mulch its just sitting in the garage) so my little snapdragons are almost under water, but that was the worst I think. I hope everyone makes it through the next week with minimal damage! The forecast doesn't look too much better from this week...
Becky
It was pretty bad here yesterday. I live next to an old pecan orchard and as I'm sitting here typing, lightning struck one of the trees and cracked a huge branch off. Our bayous are full and the area looks the way it was intended to look....it's a swamp.
Oh Goodness, I am sorry to hear of my Texas neighbors' troubles with the storm. Let's hope the next rain that looks like it will be after the weekend, will be a slow easy drizzle. Thinking of you all... tosaho AKA SandiO