Well, as luck would have it this week, my magic 8 ball was in the shop for repairs. That's the only excuse that we mortal humans could use, anyway. There is nothing that can be equal to the force of Mother Nature. It would take my magic 8 ball and millions of others to repair the landscape change in the Metroplex after the storms on Monday. Less than a mile from my house rows of privacy fences in back yards, some attached to brick towers, were felled from the wind that came ahead of the dry line as it moved east from western Texas right on through Tarrant, Dallas and Rockwall counties.
My porch was covered in buds from the big trees around me. It takes a big wind to do that. As the storm passed, there is some faint remembering that thunder was heard about the 3 0'clock hour of the night. Sleeping that sound makes me feel good that my sleep was deep and good for body repair but not so good to sleep through a major spring storm.The hail came from the previous storm, but this one had the wind!
When I got to the lake later that morning, my stomach was sick at what was being seen. The mighty of the mighty old growth trees were down from one end to the other. In one place, five giants lay from roots to canopy tops on the ground. Uprooted,these are trees that are 60 feet tall and nearing 8 feet in radius only. That means there's another 8 feet to get fully around the tree. The root ball of at least 8 of these monsters were down on their sides. In fact, with the lens that I had on the camera, to get the full image put the length distance to much and the images have some light blur at full 100%. Some of the places that I had just shot images a couple of days beforehand were now bare. Today, I noticed just how my shade was gone from there areas which are now covered in afternoon sunshine where once it was cooling shade.
I am one of those that hate to see a tree lost, period, let alone the mighty tower landmarks that have seen 100 years or more of activity under them. Checking on the hawks nest and the owls were a top priority as I made my rounds, but I can tell you the destruction was the worse that I have seen in 15 plus years. The thought that this is natures spring pruning so to speak is some comfort, but now I know how some people were feeling when Oncor's contract tree trimmers arrived down back yard alleys whacking the heck out of trees to keep the 10-foot easement of branches away from the wires so storm damage didn't fell trees and knock out power! Imagine that! There were some 300,000 in the metroplex that lost power anyway.
Homes were damaged, Rockwall homes got hit again. One man woke up as he is sailing out of his bedroom into the front yard one story below with only the bedroom door and hallway walls still remaining to the rest of the house. Big box delivery trucks were left laying on their sides in parking lots. One company had all three of their trucks laid flat. The National Weather Service in Ft. Worth confirmed three tornadoes in the Metroplex. Most just west of DFW airport in Keller and going north to Lewisville. I believed that it was straight line winds at the lake until I found one monster tree facing 180-degrees opposite of the other trees felled in the same direction. And, further, there were a lot of trees that were not uprooted but everything above about 6 feet was twisted off. To me, that should seems like circulation rather than straight line. Winds were in the 90-95 MPH range on the NWS site and the reports from the TV meterologist.
The guys at Parks and Recreation were out the first morning picking up all the little branches blown here and there, putting them into piles that could picked up by the mechanical equipment later. Then came the chain saw crews that cut the large limbs into pieces that could be picked up easier. Today, things looks like they were getting back to normal but the lift bucket trucks were out clearing out the widow makers and the wood chippers were running all over the park. And here is the kicker. While today was well into the 80s with clear skies, the Gulf moisture is returning and the weekend is already being warned of severe storms again.
I have been busy submitting pictures and have a large number approved and published already with some still awaiting approval in the hopper. The work flow has slowed down with the tour of the lake and things being a bit out of sync. But, that will pass and things will return to normal minus some beautiful old trees that I have enjoyed over the years.
My porch was covered in buds from the big trees around me. It takes a big wind to do that. As the storm passed, there is some faint remembering that thunder was heard about the 3 0'clock hour of the night. Sleeping that sound makes me feel good that my sleep was deep and good for body repair but not so good to sleep through a major spring storm.The hail came from the previous storm, but this one had the wind!
When I got to the lake later that morning, my stomach was sick at what was being seen. The mighty of the mighty old growth trees were down from one end to the other. In one place, five giants lay from roots to canopy tops on the ground. Uprooted,these are trees that are 60 feet tall and nearing 8 feet in radius only. That means there's another 8 feet to get fully around the tree. The root ball of at least 8 of these monsters were down on their sides. In fact, with the lens that I had on the camera, to get the full image put the length distance to much and the images have some light blur at full 100%. Some of the places that I had just shot images a couple of days beforehand were now bare. Today, I noticed just how my shade was gone from there areas which are now covered in afternoon sunshine where once it was cooling shade.
I am one of those that hate to see a tree lost, period, let alone the mighty tower landmarks that have seen 100 years or more of activity under them. Checking on the hawks nest and the owls were a top priority as I made my rounds, but I can tell you the destruction was the worse that I have seen in 15 plus years. The thought that this is natures spring pruning so to speak is some comfort, but now I know how some people were feeling when Oncor's contract tree trimmers arrived down back yard alleys whacking the heck out of trees to keep the 10-foot easement of branches away from the wires so storm damage didn't fell trees and knock out power! Imagine that! There were some 300,000 in the metroplex that lost power anyway.
Homes were damaged, Rockwall homes got hit again. One man woke up as he is sailing out of his bedroom into the front yard one story below with only the bedroom door and hallway walls still remaining to the rest of the house. Big box delivery trucks were left laying on their sides in parking lots. One company had all three of their trucks laid flat. The National Weather Service in Ft. Worth confirmed three tornadoes in the Metroplex. Most just west of DFW airport in Keller and going north to Lewisville. I believed that it was straight line winds at the lake until I found one monster tree facing 180-degrees opposite of the other trees felled in the same direction. And, further, there were a lot of trees that were not uprooted but everything above about 6 feet was twisted off. To me, that should seems like circulation rather than straight line. Winds were in the 90-95 MPH range on the NWS site and the reports from the TV meterologist.
The guys at Parks and Recreation were out the first morning picking up all the little branches blown here and there, putting them into piles that could picked up by the mechanical equipment later. Then came the chain saw crews that cut the large limbs into pieces that could be picked up easier. Today, things looks like they were getting back to normal but the lift bucket trucks were out clearing out the widow makers and the wood chippers were running all over the park. And here is the kicker. While today was well into the 80s with clear skies, the Gulf moisture is returning and the weekend is already being warned of severe storms again.
I have been busy submitting pictures and have a large number approved and published already with some still awaiting approval in the hopper. The work flow has slowed down with the tour of the lake and things being a bit out of sync. But, that will pass and things will return to normal minus some beautiful old trees that I have enjoyed over the years.
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| The storm damage was all over. There isn't much more to say other than while being a renewable resource, it will take another 100 years to get the new saplings to this size. |
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