A Tornado Twisted Through my Farm
I must thank all of you dedicated readers, once again, for helping to make my blog so successful. As I did last year, I chose five of the most popular blogs as far as page views are concerned and will repost them during this week. I hope that your holidays were wonderful and I wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope that 2011 will be safe, healthy, and prosperous!
Last Wednesday, the twenty-first of July, we experienced some very severe weather here in the Northeast causing many downed trees and power lines. Tornados were confirmed in Connecticut. I was at home at my farm in Bedford, New York. Around five in the afternoon, the skies grew very dark, it became very windy, and the rain came down in torrents. In fact, it was pounding horizontally. The power went out, switching over to generator. When the thunder and lightning passed, I ventured outdoors to find major devastation. More than 120 trees on the farm suffered damage. Stately old trees were snapped down and others were pulled right out of the ground. Shaun, my gardener and a licensed arborist, was shocked by the ruin. In his opinion, because the path of destruction is so narrow through the woods, a twister could very well have been the cause. Thankfully, no one was hurt and there was no structural damage to any of my buildings. A big thank you to all of the crews who worked so hard to clear roads and to restore power.
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- How lucky was I that this very tall white pine fell just inches from the tenant house? The thud was terrifying.
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- Wilmer standing next to the same tree with gorgeous plantings uprooted – the wire is a lightning rod – somehow very ironic.
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- Many roads were blocked by fallen trees and electric wires. This is right in front of my home.
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- Even utility poles were broken
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- Maple Avenue, a charming dirt road, was a real mess.
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- My friend, Ralph Robbins from SavAtree, http://www.savatree.com/ sent a crew quickly.
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- There was a lot of damage right outside my home. A lovely black locust fell but did not hit the house.
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- Good thing no one was traveling on this carriage road.
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- Splintered!
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- The force of the wind was frightening.
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- This raccoon was stunned. It probably lost its home in a tree.
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- I happened to be driving past in my Kawaski and agreed to be interviewed.
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- The day after the storm, a team from Fox 5 news was covering the damage in the area – Cathleen Trgg and a camera man.
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- To reward the tree crew for their labors, I served them chocolate layer cake and sticky buns from my kitchen.
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- They were happy.
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- Yum!!!
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- I also offered muffins and sticky buns to the utility workers.
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- All homemade, of course!
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- Really good monkey bread
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- This linden tree was uprooted, broke my stone wall, and fell across the street.
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- Chhiring standing next to the linden tree showing how large it is
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- Another tree in the woods
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- Nothing but splinters
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- This tree was rotten and would have fallen soon anyway.
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- This pile in the compost yard is aging for firewood.
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- It’s growing rapidly.
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- Chipped wood and other logs are being piled high for compost.
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- Another look at the beautiful old sycamore – It will be pruned back and we’ll hope for the best.
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- Several large branches were torn from this linden tree.
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- So many trees were snapped right in half.
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- These large maples were destroyed.
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- This large limb was torn off of a very old tree alongside Maple Avenue.
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- Rather than snapping, this tree came right out of the ground.
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- Immediately following the heavy winds and rain, a double rainbow appeared overhead.
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- This old maple was a source of shade for the horses in their paddock – so sad.
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- Another split tree.
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- And another
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- This mighty oak fell victim to the wind.
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- This one really looks twisted!
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- The narrow path of the twister runs right through a very wooded area.
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- This tree was pulled right out of the ground along with large boulders and the surrounding flora.
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- Tree upon tree
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- This branch is hung up quite high in this maple.
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- One of my prized sycamores against an angry sky
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- One of my recently planted sycamores ruined
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- Potted plants were tossed around as branches flew through the air.
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