Dominoes

Two nights ago there were ferocious winds in this area and many trees came down, while others dropped large limbs across roads and into paddocks. I was lucky, nothing major happened on this property, although some parts are littered with bark and small branches - but this will be easy to clean up. My friends down the road were not so fortunate.

On the nature strip, one of the huge trunks of an enormous Eucalyptus obliqua or Messmate stringybark fell during the night and she woke to see her front drive blocked with masses of timber and her gate and front fencing smashed. On closer inspection it was apparent that there was a large crack in the remaining trunk and the whole tree was unstable and unsafe - if it fell on its own, then it could fall across the power lines. The Council were prompt in sending workers, trucks, a huge crane and a front-end loader to clean it all up, but Police closed the road for the duration and I was caught on the wrong side. By the time traffic could again use the road the devastation was obvious.

Trees previously protected by the bigger ones are now vulnerable to the extreme winds we can experience and may have to be removed. Others have been nudged by the falling one and are leaning precariously from a loosened root ball. Many of my friend's small native trees that have been tended carefully for the last two years are gone as well, while several have been snapped in half and will not recover. Felling the remainder of the tree brought down another large one on the nature strip of the next property, and many smaller self sown seedlings have been squashed. As I walked home from the Post Office this morning, the council workers were there again, and my friend was also cleaning up - she was close to tears as she surveyed the damage.