Monday, January 4, 2010

May the "FORCE" be with me to remove this massive tree from my house!


I was just browsing through my pictures and happened upon this one and just had to post it. This happened to my house a few months ago during the most severe thunderstorm I've ever experienced in this valley. It was hailing like hell and the winds were almost hurricane force! Wow, it was exhilarating  to say the least. Lesson learned...don't ever plant Eucalyptus trees in your yard! The root systems on these trees are very shallow with no tap root at all. They also drop heavy branches all the time during windstorms and it's dangerous to be underneath them as you can see. It had been raining for three days straight so the ground was soaked, making it much easier for the wind to topple this beast. Of course it chose to smack my house. Oh no, it wasn't about to fall anywhere else. It crushed three trusses and the rainwater soaked through the drywall and destroyed the ceiling in the bedroom. Needless to say, it was a mess! It took me a week to clean it up and repair the damage. I had five of these trees planted in my yard about 20 years ago and regretted it ever since. The very next day all but one received a drastic trim job by Lafe the Butcher! I cut them down from 75 feet high to about ten feet. Don't want that to happen again I can assure you. My Uncle's house also had several of these trees around his house and a much larger one toppled over on his house! Didn't do as much damage though. The storm reminded me of the time I was in New Orleans a while back. I was sleeping on the job (All hotels in the city were booked full do to Katrina's aftermath) in the back of my truck when the tornado sirens started blaring. It was about midnight and the wind and rain were coming down in torrents. There was nothing I could do but wait it out and pray I wasn't in it's path. Soon the truck was rocking back and forth like an empty boat in the raging sea. Man was I scared! The rain found its way into the camper and soon I was soaking wet. At times it felt like I was going to be carried away truck and all but soon it settled down to just a steady hard wind and buckets of rain for the rest of the night. Next morning (after drying out) I drove down the street ONE BLOCK and in front of me was a swath of total devastation! A F3 tornado had touched down and left a swath a few hundred yards wide of flattened homes and business's! It was shocking to see. That was definitely the closest I've ever been to a live and livid tornado...and would ever want to be.

7 comments:

Ian said...

WOW. Where was everyone when the tree fell?

Anonymous said...

that is terrifying... I am glad you guys are okay.

The Matthew Family Est. 2005 said...

YIKES! It would be cool to visit Lamora. I haven't been in SO LONG. It is SO different. Love you all!:) I love the picture you have on her of Aunt Norine. She's so beautiful!

Desertson said...

We had all the kids in the living room which is on the other side of the house. Thankfully no one was injured.

lisa and laura said...

Holy moly! I love all things weather, but would NEVER want to be in the path of a tornado.

I laughed out loud at the picture...not at what the tree did to your house, but you posing in front of it!

Joe Cap said...

Hailing like hell, eh? Ha ha, just a saying, right? It doesn't hail in hell, does it?

Desertson said...

It hails fire and brimstone there for sure...haha