Community Chat

[LilacTree]

Thankfully it fell toward the street.  My daughter had just left three minutes before it fell right where her car was parked.  Ground very wet here from all the rain last week.  I actually watched it fall, it was weird.  I felt so sorry for the squirrels who were running everywhere, I hope none were killed.

There is another tree right in front of my bedroom window.  It also leans slightly toward the street, but if it fell this way, it would crash through the roof above me.  It's much larger than the tree that fell, which is large enough.

Tree service  not here yet.  I asked the maintenance men to make sure they trim off the top of the tree because that's why the other one fell . . . top heavy with fragile roots.

I noticed they cut down some trees a few apartments down, so they must have been aware of the problem.

There are so pretty, it's a shame.  But too dangerous.

[qualitygal]

@LilacTree, I'm so glad she wasn't there and no one was hurt.  That's totally unnerving isn't it.

[2blonde]

Lilac, are they just old, and that's why the roots are weak?  I wouldn't think healthy trees would fall, even with the wet ground.  I've never seen a tree fall except when it was being cut.......that must be strange.

Around here in NE Ohio, we are in the process of losing all of our Ash trees due to the Emerald Ash Boring Beetle.  It's so sad.......entire neighborhoods have lost nearly all their trees.  One woman had to pay to have 7 trees removed from her yard, and she has no other trees.  They die a long and sad death and eventually have to be removed before they fall on someone's house or car.

[Pqfan]

@LilacTree Thank God you and your family are okay!

I was just looking at some trees around here yesterday and wondering if they were solidly in the ground.

So scary I try not to think about it.

[Gram W]

Thank goodness that this end so well. Your daughter and family was blessed.   It is great that someone is responding so quickly to your request to do something about the second tree.  

Many areas need this rain to end their drought but it has been coming down to fast and to hard. Here in central NY we have had rain almost every day and/or night for some time.  Last night and today it is a gentle rain and the soil is able to accept it.

 I am afraid we will be hearing more stories of downed trees and property damage country wide.  I pray they end as good as yours.

[happycat]

How scary. I'm glad your daughter didn't leave any later than she did.

Our old house had a huge oak tree close to the house. We had it trimmed probably 30 years ago, but a few years ago a huge limb fell and hit the house. Nobody was hurt, but it did a lot of damage.

I do love trees, and yeah, they sure can do some major damage.

[Carmie]

Just a few weeks ago, a beautiful 10 year old girl was killed when a tree fell on the trailer she was in.  The tree looked healthy and the tree service went through the trailer park on a regular basis and maintained the trees.

it was discovered that ants had eaten the inside of the tree and weakened it.  There was no way anyone could have known that.

wjat was supposed to be a happy weekend at camp, turned out to be. Horrible tragedy.

lilactree, I am glad that no one got hurt when your tree fell.

[LilacTree]

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@2blonde wrote:

Lilac, are they just old, and that's why the roots are weak?  I wouldn't think healthy trees would fall, even with the wet ground.  I've never seen a tree fall except when it was being cut.......that must be strange.

Around here in NE Ohio, we are in the process of losing all of our Ash trees due to the Emerald Ash Boring Beetle.  It's so sad.......entire neighborhoods have lost nearly all their trees.  One woman had to pay to have 7 trees removed from her yard, and she has no other trees.  They die a long and sad death and eventually have to be removed before they fall on someone's house or car.

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@2blonde

These apartments have been here for about 30 years.  The trees were here way before that.  However, this town has a high water table (as does all of South Jersey).  There is a deep pool of water all around the tree that fell.

There is only a very shallow crawl space and roof above our apartment, no second floor.  The first winter we were here, ice built up on the roof and broke through the walls right through to the inside of our apartment.  The walls and window had to be replaced halfway across the fireplace and the roof repaired.  Then all repainted.  Thankfully it didn't damage the corn cob shades, which are ours, not theirs.  They open from the top and bottom and were not inexpensive.

They do a good job of maintenance here, but once housing which was built 30 years ago (when cheap materials were used) it becomes harder and harder to keep up.  You're better off with homes built 30 or more years before that.

We were surprised to see the stringy roots on a tree this big.  At first I didn't even realize what was happening, I just saw this big black thing coming up from the ground and realized the tree was falling when it hit the street.  Yes. very strange.

[LilacTree]

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@Carmie wrote:

Just a few weeks ago, a beautiful 10 year old girl was killed when a tree fell on the trailer she was in.  The tree looked healthy and the tree service went through the trailer park on a regular basis and maintained the trees.

it was discovered that ants had eaten the inside of the tree and weakened it.  There was no way anyone could have known that.

wjat was supposed to be a happy weekend at camp, turned out to be. Horrible tragedy.

lilactree, I am glad that no one got hurt when your tree fell.

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@Carmie

OMG, how horrible.  I told my daughter she had an angel on her shoulder today.

[Plaid Pants2]

I am glad that no one was hurt when the tree fell.

Even healthy trees can fall if the ground is saturated enough.

Your daughter had her guardian angel looking out for her today.