Crews face tough task of clearing downed trees

Downed trees are a big problem during and after a storm. Local arborists say they’re slammed with clean up requests after this weekend’s rain. An arborist we spoke to says it’s important to make sure trees around your home or business are not in danger of falling over before a storm. Otherwise you might be stuck with damage that could have been preventable.

Recently a tree was blown over in Carmel causing considerable damage to a house and fence nearby. Homeowners can’t control the weather, but they can keep an eye out for the health of trees on their property. If you see any changes in your trees, like leaves changing color or falling out of season, there could something wrong. If a tree is in bad health, it might just need a little wind to cause a great amount of damage.

“This tree weighs about 3000, 4000 pounds. Now that’s static. Energy is mass times velocity squared, so when that thing starts to fall, of course it gains weight, so it’s impact force is about 10-thousand pounds. So that’s how it can make a potato chip out of a car,” said Arborist Bryan Bradford.

Bradford says that this recent storm has caused a good amount of damage, but fortunately not a lot of monetary damage, and of course, most importantly, no one has been hurt.

He emphasized that if a tree looks dangerous in any way to call a tree service as soon as possible. Our properties can usually withstand some heavy winds and rain, but not tons of wood falling from just feet away.