Hurricane Beryl

[Edgar]

The center of Hurricane Beryl passed about 15 miles to the west of us. Although it was a Cat 1, it had some powerful gusts over 95mph & probably a lot of downbursts. We only had 10" of rain, but the wind was fierce. We lost a beautiful 150-yo pecan tree in our front yard. Fortunately it fell toward the road & not the house. No house damage and we are fine. Power is still out, but my 5500W generator is doing its job.

There are many trees down just like this. I've been here through multiple hurricanes &!tropical storms. I've never seen so many large trees pushed over at the roots like this.

 

[Hippie3180]

Glad your home did not experience damage, and everyone is safe. I've seen SO many trees like that in the photos of damage.

 

[mredburn]

None of those look like they had a large root system or tap root. Was the ground saturated from rain before Beryl hit? I lost a large oak tree in Wilma that didnt have roots down below 2 ft of the surface. That tree was growing in low lying ground where the ground water level was always close to the surface.

 

[SabertoothBunny]

It is always sad to see old trees fall but it is their time if nature does it. On the bright side, lots of very nice turning stock will come from that bad boy.

 

[Edgar]

None of those look like they had a large root system or tap root. Was the ground saturated from rain before Beryl hit? I lost a large oak tree in Wilma that didnt have roots down below 2 ft of the surface. That tree was growing in low lying ground where the ground water level was always close to the surface.

Our property (8 acres out of a 20-acre tract) had a large pecan orchard that was planted in the late 1800s. We originally had 3 trees in our back yard & this one in front when we bought it 50 years ago. Storms & disease took the others done time ago as well as most of the original orchard we probably only have about 10% of it left. We have allowed new trees to grow in place though, so we do still have a lot of trees.

I suspect those original trees were transplants rather than from nut plantings which accounts for the lack of a tap root. Another factor is that the soul here is black gumbo which is about the worst soil possible for pecans.

Of all the trees we've lost over the past 50 years, this is the first one we've lost like this.

 

[Monty]

Sorry to hear about your tree. Glad it didn't hit your house.
I just have a large mess of small branches and leaves about 3 inches or less in diameter, I have to clean up.
Had a lot of water in the ditches and yard, more than I had when Harvey went through here.

 

[Edgar]

Sorry to hear about your tree. Glad it didn't hit your house.
I just have a large mess of small branches and leaves about 3 inches or less in diameter, I have to clean up.
Had a lot of water in the ditches and yard, more than I had when Harvey went through here.

I was thinking about you - glad to hear that you fared well. We got about 10" of rain with the storm & were without power about 12 hours. Then the thunderstorms came through yesterday & we got another 4" and lost power again, 25 hours this time. Thankful to have a generator.

 

[bsshog40]

Beryl spread its way up here thru the Arklatex also. We didn't lose no trees. We did have to hit the storm shelter when our local siren went off. They broke a record up here with 67 tornadoe warnings. They have verified 19 tornadoes touched down and still counting. We only lost power for about 5 hours. Our generac saved the day again. Glad y'all didn't get hurt!

 

[Monty]

I was thinking about you - glad to hear that you fared well. We got about 10" of rain with the storm & were without power about 12 hours. Then the thunderstorms came through yesterday & we got another 4" and lost power again, 25 hours this time. Thankful to have a generator.

We also had around 10". Lost power about 5:30 Monday morning. Spent till Wednesday morning in the 5th wheel so we could have ac. My generator kept the ac going in it and the fridge and freezer in the house along with the well.

 

[rixstix]

Beryl also made it's way to South Dakota. CenturyLink provides the 911 service statewide and a Houston outage wiped out the entire South Dakota 911 system for a few hours twice yesterday. In April, a telephone pole installation in Kansas City wiped it out for nearly half a day.

Sorry to see the lost trees.

 

[Monty]

None of those look like they had a large root system or tap root. Was the ground saturated from rain before Beryl hit? I lost a large oak tree in Wilma that didnt have roots down below 2 ft of the surface. That tree was growing in low lying ground where the ground water level was always close to the surface.

Large trees like these amaze me with such a small root system and no apparent tap root. I was amazed at the number of large trees that were blown over along I10 after Katrina and Rita hit Louisiana.

 

[Woodchipper]

Edgar, glad you are OK. I was raised in Central Ohio so I can attest to the damage from a tornado.
Trivia about a tornado: My aunt lived in Eastern Ohio. The house was at the bottom of a ridge, facing a major highway. A tornado angled across the ridge, demolished the chicken house but didn't touch a flower on the back porch...40 yards from the chicken house.

 

[Edgar]

Large trees like these amaze me with such a small root system and no apparent tap root. I was amazed at the number of large trees that were blown over along I10 after Katrina and Rita hit Louisiana.

It's what happens when trees are planted from a football rather than a seed. Most of our pecan trees in Columbus are native trees that grew from nuts. I planted an additional orchard there about 40 years ago by planting 4 or 5 pecans everywhere I wanted a tree, then plucking out all but one of more than one sprouted. I grafted some of them when they got bigger & just left some alone. They are now some beautiful, healthy trees & im confident that each one has a good, sturdy tsp root.

 

[Edgar]

Edgar, glad you are OK. I was raised in Central Ohio so I can attest to the damage from a tornado.
Trivia about a tornado: My aunt lived in Eastern Ohio. The house was at the bottom of a ridge, facing a major highway. A tornado angled across the ridge, demolished the chicken house but didn't touch a flower on the back porch...40 yards from the chicken house.

Great story. It's amazing how the wind behaves sometimes.

 

[PreacherJon]

The center of Hurricane Beryl passed about 15 miles to the west of us. Although it was a Cat 1, it had some powerful gusts over 95mph & probably a lot of downbursts. We only had 10" of rain, but the wind was fierce. We lost a beautiful 150-yo pecan tree in our front yard. Fortunately it fell toward the road & not the house. No house damage and we are fine. Power is still out, but my 5500W generator is doing its job.

There are many trees down just like this. I've been here through multiple hurricanes &!tropical storms. I've never seen so many large trees pushed over at the roots like this.

Well, you are going to have plenty of turning wood for a few years.

 

[sorcerertd]

Wow, glad you are OK! Texas has been getting beat up the last couple years. Record cold, record heat, fires, tornadoes, and obviously at least one hurricane. Mother nature does not fool around.

 

[Edgar]

Well, you are going to have plenty of turning wood for a few years.

That's for sure, but I already have enough for several lifetimes. I'll probably just keep a small amount.

 

[duncsuss]

Pretty soon the problem won't be wind, it'll be dealing with all the woodturners who show up trying to score a piece ...

Seriously though - happy to learn you got through it with just this loss. Up here in the northeast we don't often get the same extreme weather you have to contend with.

 

[Monty]

This is the biggest problem

 

[Edgar]

Wow, glad you are OK! Texas has been getting beat up the last couple years. Record cold, record heat, fires, tornadoes, and obviously at least one hurricane. Mother nature does not fool around.

It's a big state though, so most of us don't really experience multiple "records". I've been here 79 years and most of these so-called records are actually just normal cycles. This is the 3rd hurricane to score a direct hit on my house: 1983, 2003, 2024 — this one was a year late.

This is the biggest problem

TRUTH!

 

[bsshog40]

It's a big state though, so most of us don't really experience multiple "records". I've been here 79 years and most of these so-called records are actually just normal cycles. This is the 3rd hurricane to score a direct hit on my house: 1983, 2003, 2024 — this one was a year late.

TRUTH!

I remember Ike doing a little damage also in 2008.

 

[Edgar]

No doubt, and we lost power 4 days from Ike. I was just mentioning those where the eye or eye wall passed over our house. The center of Alicia's eye went right over us in 1983 (interesting experience). The western edge of the eye of Grace went over us in 2003 (not much calm, but we did experience wind direction change). Now we had the eastern eye wall (dirty side) of Beryl.

We've certainly had other hurricanes in our area, just a little further from the center. Ike and Harvey are probably the two worst in my lifetime. Lots of wind from Ike & lots of water from Harvey. Our place in Columbus was under 4' of water from Harvey & water was a half-inch from coming into our house in Alvin.

I didn't even mention tropical storms. Alvin, TX still holds the record for recorded rainfall in the USA - 42" in 24 hours from TS Claudette in 1979. Most of our city & county was flooded - we had 19" of water in our house from that one.

 

[sorcerertd]

Alvin, TX still holds the record for recorded rainfall in the USA - 42" in 24 hours