Hurricane Sandy and Winter Storm Athena was a one-two combination punch for Rye trees, as well as us mortals.
By Bill Lawyer
Hurricane Sandy and Winter Storm Athena was a one-two combination punch for Rye trees, as well as us mortals. According to the City Manager’s office, 68 street trees came down. That doesn’t include all the trees that came down in other public and private spaces — from Rye Town Park, the Golf Club, Rye Rec, and the Rye Nature Center to backyards. The total may exceed 500 trees.
According to City Engineer Ryan Coyne, nearly 16,000 cubic yards of tree and bush debris was collected by DPW – that’s enough to fill a building 2,500 yards wide by 2,500 yards high by 2,500 yards deep! This included any materials that could be brought to the curb.
Nevertheless, much of the damage that caused large sections of Rye to lose power came from those 68 street trees. They’re the ones that could previously be seen towering – often precariously – over the power lines on Forest Avenue, Milton Road, Playland Parkway, Apawamis Avenue, Manursing Way, Intervale Place, and many other streets.
Because it’s very hard to get reliable numbers of trees and major branches down, it’s also difficult to draw any conclusions about whether the tree-related power line damage this year was worse than last year’s.
To a certain extent, the real reason power stayed out so long wasn’t the number of street trees down in Rye, but the fact that the storm wreaked such widespread havoc throughout the region.
Nevertheless, while we can’t control what damage occurs elsewhere, we can look at the details of Rye’s downed trees and try to see what lessons can be learned.
The most obvious lesson is that tall urban trees pose a threat to power lines. Their roots are often compromised and they get crown-heavy. In the best of all worlds, no tree that could easily be uprooted and fall onto power lines ought to be permitted. On most of Rye’s main roads running north-south, this means that the height of trees should be limited on both the side with the power lines and the side without. Con Edison recommends that no trees that reach higher than 40 feet should be allowed to be growing less than 35 feet away from power lines.
Another lesson is that some species of trees seem much more susceptible to wind damage than others. A good example of this was the damage done by Hurricane Andrew in south Florida back in 1992. Winds gusting up to 170 mph were recorded in the Everglades, and 11,000 acres of trees were blown down. But naturalists noted that species native to the area had a much higher survival rate than species that had been brought in from other parts of the world – especially those from areas not subject to hurricanes.
Here in Rye, arborists report that the most common trees to come down are Norway maples, Bradford pears, and white pines (they’re native but tend to grow fast and die young – the James Deans of trees. But timing is an important factor. Bartlett Tree arborist Frazer Pehmoeller reports that during Hurricane Sandy, mature oak trees were among the most commonly blown down. He says that this is due to the fact that the oaks are one of the last trees to lose their leaves in the fall. Since many other species had already lost theirs, they were not able to provide any protection to the oaks. It’s called “sailing.”
While some people assume that any trees that get blown down “must have been weakened by disease” this is frequently not the case. No tree can withstand a “blow over” by a high-level hurricane or tornado. And in many cases, trees are damaged by the domino effect of being hit by other trees, through no fault of their own.
But when you get to the low-level hurricanes or mid-sized tropical storms, then other variables come into play – particularly with urban trees.
In addition to the basic height factor, other fixable issues include the size of the tree crown, the health and environmental factors of the root structure, and the selection of the “right tree for the right place.” Often, tree roots are damaged by improper trenching to install sprinkler systems. Proper pruning can’t solve all problems, but it can help. While tree maintenance costs aren’t inexpensive, it’s much cheaper and safer than cleaning up after a storm.
And while it’s important to remove trees that pose a threat to safety and utility lines, it’s also important to plant the right trees to take their place. Trees can work together to provide shade, wind buffers, beauty, and absorption of stormwater and wildlife support.
While some of the tree damage from this year’s storms could not have been prevented, Pehmoeller said, “People need to consider the location of their trees in terms of the typical storm patterns and how their trees can be affected by what’s going on with other trees in their neighborhoods.” He added, “Before people start cutting down trees, they should seek the advice of certified arborists.”
