Storm Takes Down Tree at Maediris and Harold Bryd Drive
Decatur Metro | May 23, 2013
Last night’s pop-up storm was quite a doozy, huh?
Teresa sends in this pic and writes that this tree took down power lines last night and that the neighborhood was without power from 12a-7a this morning.
Wondering where Maediris and Harold Bryd are located? HERE!
Looks like from this picture, the tree fell in the exact right spot to minimize damage and injury. Very glad to see that.
I’m always amazed when I see just how shallow the root system is for such large trees. It’s surprising we don’t see more of them falling, especially given the age of much of the canopy.
A neighbor on Princeton had two trees fall last night trapping her in her bed. She’s a little bruised but it’s a miracle she wasn’t more seriously injured.
Great response but the fire and rescue folks.
A close call for sure!
Wow. That explains the prolonged emergency noises last night. Two trees down within a mile as the crow flies, one on bed. Thank goodness no one was hurt.
I have to admit that I’m wondering if bedrooms are better on the bottom floor of houses in Atlanta. Am I right that trees seem to fall more at night? Probably because severe storms are more at night?
Likely a case of white or brown rot fungus. White-rot fungi break down the lignin in roots leaving them very brittle and leaving the tree, especially very large oak trees, very susceptible to failure. This type of rot can easily be identified by most arborist.
That is an irresponsible remark that implies liability for the tree’s owner. You have no idea what brought that tree down. Healthy trees come down all the time. The fact that it was followed by a plug for you or your friend makes it especially bad.
Trees are huge living organisms that will fail, and sometimes catastrophically. I apologize for my insensitivity for anyone that has personally experienced tree failure. While a trained and experienced certified arborist can help reduce the risk, most consulting arborist include a disclosure that even if a tree is deemed to be low risk, it may still fail due to circumstances out of control of the owner and/or arborist (storms being one reason). Many people choose to live with a higher risk (size and potential target) tree including myself, for their beauty and/or cost of removal. An arborist can sometimes tip the scale by identifying something that would not be noticed without an inspection. My post was not to place blame but an attempt at education and to have homeowners with large trees near their home be looked at to reduce risk. Their is an inherent risk in living with trees, but I know from looking around us that it is a risk most of us take, including myself.
Thank you. This is a touchy subject because many healthy trees do come down during storms. I agree that it’s good to check the health of ones trees but don’t think people should be accused of negligence for an upsetting occurence they probably have no control over.
Make that 3 trees in a small area. We woke up to find a 50 ft tulip poplar lying across our front yard and driveway. Missed our cars, scratched up the neighbors car. It fell directly east. We had it looked at by a reputable company last year and it was not deemed risky.
as a matter of fact, if you had asked me which tree in our yard was most likely to fall, based on previous assessments, that would not have been it.
There were an awful lot of police and fire sirens last night during the storm. Does anyone know what else was going on?
As far as I could tell, most of the police/fire activity was in response to the after-effects of this tree falling and hitting electrical wires.
Looks like from this picture, the tree fell in the exact right spot to minimize damage and injury. Very glad to see that.
I’m always amazed when I see just how shallow the root system is for such large trees. It’s surprising we don’t see more of them falling, especially given the age of much of the canopy.
A neighbor on Princeton had two trees fall last night trapping her in her bed. She’s a little bruised but it’s a miracle she wasn’t more seriously injured.
Great response but the fire and rescue folks.
A close call for sure!
Wow. That explains the prolonged emergency noises last night. Two trees down within a mile as the crow flies, one on bed. Thank goodness no one was hurt.
I have to admit that I’m wondering if bedrooms are better on the bottom floor of houses in Atlanta. Am I right that trees seem to fall more at night? Probably because severe storms are more at night?
Likely a case of white or brown rot fungus. White-rot fungi break down the lignin in roots leaving them very brittle and leaving the tree, especially very large oak trees, very susceptible to failure. This type of rot can easily be identified by most arborist.
That is an irresponsible remark that implies liability for the tree’s owner. You have no idea what brought that tree down. Healthy trees come down all the time. The fact that it was followed by a plug for you or your friend makes it especially bad.
Trees are huge living organisms that will fail, and sometimes catastrophically. I apologize for my insensitivity for anyone that has personally experienced tree failure. While a trained and experienced certified arborist can help reduce the risk, most consulting arborist include a disclosure that even if a tree is deemed to be low risk, it may still fail due to circumstances out of control of the owner and/or arborist (storms being one reason). Many people choose to live with a higher risk (size and potential target) tree including myself, for their beauty and/or cost of removal. An arborist can sometimes tip the scale by identifying something that would not be noticed without an inspection. My post was not to place blame but an attempt at education and to have homeowners with large trees near their home be looked at to reduce risk. Their is an inherent risk in living with trees, but I know from looking around us that it is a risk most of us take, including myself.
Thank you. This is a touchy subject because many healthy trees do come down during storms. I agree that it’s good to check the health of ones trees but don’t think people should be accused of negligence for an upsetting occurence they probably have no control over.
Sheesh, have a beer and calm down… You’re on the internet….
A good arborist is Peter “Treeman” Jenkins treeinspections.com. He also has a great article on his website on, How to spot a dangerous tree.
Make that 3 trees in a small area. We woke up to find a 50 ft tulip poplar lying across our front yard and driveway. Missed our cars, scratched up the neighbors car. It fell directly east. We had it looked at by a reputable company last year and it was not deemed risky.
as a matter of fact, if you had asked me which tree in our yard was most likely to fall, based on previous assessments, that would not have been it.