Sanford’s Sunday Storm
May 12, 2008
About 9:30 p.m. last night, my wife and I heard an ear-jarring “CRACK” and then our power went out for about 10 seconds during last night’s storm.
Because our power came on so quickly, and because we were watching movies … we really didn’t think twice about what that crack was.
Today, we found out.
A few houses down from us, a big, beautiful healthy tree was split near its base, and it came within just a few feet of nearly destroying the big historic home next to it. Herald photographer Brooke Wolfe shot a few photos this morning to show the damage.
It’s amazing what Mother Nature can do with just one crack of the lightning whip. The people trying to sell this house are thankful (and a bit lucky) it didn’t cause any damage, and we’re lucky it wasn’t one of our big old trees.
Entry Filed under: Sanford. Tags: lightning, North Carolina, Sanford, Thunderstorm.
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1.
Al Roethlisberger | May 14, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Well, similarly to many of your previous posts referencing the dog family… I’ll go ahead and identify myself as a bit of a “tree softie”
So seeing the loss of any mature tree, especially in an urban/neighborhood area, really breaks my heart.
It is a shame when we lose a mature tree, by accident, due to “bad planning”, or from Mother Nature herself. And it is certainly even worse when it damages property. So the silver lining indeed is that this tree didn’t hit Chris’ house.
Older homes can sometimes tand an indirect hit, but I don’t know what would have happened if it had fallen directly across the home. I know a large tree “grazed” our house about 30 years ago, and the damage is still evident from crooked door frames and a few cracked joists.
But sometimes we also lose trees simply because they are in decline or are damaged. People often think that all trees live for “hundreds of years”, when in reality only some species are so long lived. Even some species many assume are long lived, such as some oaks, reach maturity in less than 100 years then often go into decline in urban environments.
We have this issue today with the two oak trees in front of the Railroad House.
And this is unfortunately what happened to our beautiful 80ish year old Willow Oak along Gulf Street that we had to cut down within a month of purchasing the house.
And on that note, under the guise of prevention…. sometimes it is just bad luck, or the storm is just too fierce for even the sturdiest of trees, but other times if lucky enough, we can identify trees that may be at risk.
In our case, during the pre-sale inspection, I noticed that the base of our old oak was losing bark, and had narrow deep soft spots and rot on two sides of the trunk, only for about a foot up from grade. It didn’t seem very severe, but the continued loss of bark concerned me more. Given that any tree trunk, just like a chain, is only as strong as its weakest link, I thought to check with three different arborists and tree maintenance firms.
I was told that the tree was definitely at risk, and would only get worse. They couldn’t predict if it would fall tomorrow or 20 years from now, but it certainly could at any time. So although a terrible decision, we opted to remove the tree to avoid killing a pedestrian, motorist, or our house. It really broke our hearts.
But not all trees offer obvious clues to their health. Some trees, especially pine trees, can have solid outer surfaces but contain hidden cavities and rot. In fact, this is a common problem with large pine trees, and the only safe method to determine health is to core the trunk.
In the case of this tree, speaking to Chris, she says it was a lightning strike, which makes sense since this tree seems to be relatively young and healthy.
When lightning strikes a tree, a number of devastating things can happen, along with the assumed burning of the wood. But the two most common catastrophic results of a lightning strike can first be the delamination of all the bark as the water boils and expands. Trees can be killed from this, but left standing and suffering. The other catastrophic result of a lighting strike, which this tree perhaps appears to have suffered, is also due to water flashing to steam, which in some cases can cause the trunk to partially explode.
In other cases, depending on tree species, moisture content, etc, the results may instead vary. Some trees live after being struck many times, some just burn, others suffer a long decline. One can never tell until it happens. And of course, except for perhaps having the tallest tree in the neighborhood by a large margin, it is nearly impossible to tell if your tree is at any greater risk of a lightning strike than any other.
But bottom line, having old mature trees is a real treasure in so many ways… from aesthetic beauty to energy conservation. And established neighborhoods really do benefit from their stock of old trees. And I think the benefits outweigh the risks.
However, one burden owners of old trees bear is to be aware of the health of these giants, and to inspect them regularly. It is too often that some people fear their big trees, and just cut them down, or when others fail to manage their health.
But with careful planning and placement of new trees, and ongoing inspection and care of existing trees, we can all safely enjoy these treasures. Beyond that, it is the whim of Mother Nature to give, and to take, and we of course can’t control that.
I’m really sorry to see this tree brought down, but again am very happy to see the good fortune it had to fall away from the house.
Al
P.S.
That is a fine home, with an unusual amount of property for the neighborhood and some interesting history. If anyone is in the market or just interested in the home’s architecture, you should really take the time to check it out while it is on the market. It still has some really neat built-in radiators, storage, and a very cool attached guest quarters, with its own fireplace to boot!
2.
Tammy Hebert | May 15, 2008 at 2:46 am
Saw the tree. Wow it is huge. So, when do you think the owners might get it cleaned up as it does block the sidewalk for walkers.
Also, the lovely trees at the Railroad park..well if the dang city workers hadn’t run electrical conduit up the trees and screwed them in the trees that might have helped not kill them.
All that damage to put spot lights in them – really people trees arent’ spotlight holders or speaker holders for that fact which is what they are putting in all the trees downtown.
Just let them be trees..