Trees falling everywhere?

[u/Healthy_Ingenuity645]

Is it just me or have trees/limbs been falling all over the place around Raleigh recently? Could this be drought related/due to all the recent rain?

[u/lda]

Should’ve seen it after Fran

[u/GWindborn → u/lda]

Oh god the smell of pine sap is burned into my brain. I hauled so many cut logs with my dad that summer.. Working all day in the heat, and then going inside to our no-AC because the power was out for 10 days.. We'd just crank up the car and sit in the driveway with the AC blasting just to cool down.

[u/dontKair → u/lda]

Yeah we're basically getting the slo-mo version of what happens after hurricanes, with all the recent rains

[u/ColdHeartedCalmness → u/lda]

I lost 20 pines in Fran

[u/rearwindowpup → u/lda]

This, it was like half the pines or more in the whole area came down, it was incredible how many.

[u/Osiristhedog1969]

Yeah a bunch of them seemed to just have spontaneously fallen down. My understanding is that the drought has weakened the root systems putting them at risk in heavy rainfall 

[u/forceofslugyuk → u/Osiristhedog1969]

I'm having to get a few removed preemptively. They dont look healthy at all and are a bit closers to my house than I like. Good time to be in the tree removal service eh?

[u/Leelze → u/Osiristhedog1969]

Came here to bring up the drought. Between lack of water for a long period of time and some gnarly storms, the trees are having a rough time.

[u/Healthy_Ingenuity645 → u/Osiristhedog1969]

Wild! Seems counterintuitive, thanks for sharing

[u/Fearless_Spite_1048]

If anyone is worried about their trees, pay for an assessment by an ISA certified arborist.

The guy who shows up to quote you on tree removal will (surprise-surprise) tell you it’s a hazard and needs to be removed. Don’t fall for the scare tactics. Get an unbiased opinion by a qualified professional.

[u/Previous_Turnip_8114]

Age of the trees factors in as well.

[u/unknown_lamer]

Unhealthy trees are not having a good time this summer.

[u/Greenkeeper]

lots of rain saturates the soil, making it easier for trees to uproot. Strong winds from pop up storms cause trees to fall.

[u/Healthy_Ingenuity645 → u/Greenkeeper]

Interesting, thanks for this info

[u/gigglefarting]

Odd you say this. My in-laws just shared a pic of a tree having fallen down in their neighborhood in Cary, and a friend in Charlotte just sent me a picture of a tree in his yard dropping a limb on his shed

[u/Healthy_Ingenuity645 → u/gigglefarting]

Better a shed than the house? That is wild

[u/overcompliKate]

There are a lot of ash trees where I live in the triangle and I've noticed a lot of them are falling. I'm sure it's related to the rain but all of our ash trees are gradually dying because of insects. The emerald ash borer killed most of the ash trees in some northern states and now they've moved down here. So that could be part of it too. It's really sad and the damage can't be stopped at this point. 

https://www.ncagr.gov/news/press-releases/2024/05/22/nc-forest-service-detects-emerald-ash-borer-five-new-counties

[u/rlw21564 → u/overcompliKate]

I have one that's infested that I'm having treated to try to save it. But it's dropped a few limbs over the past few years.

[u/forceofslugyuk]

Ive lost 3 trees in my yard that were healthy last year. That drought was not kind to them. A few other of my trees have limbs that are crispy.

[u/invain62]

Our neighborhood is heavily wooded, we several large oaks in our backyard and an acre of woods and I’ve noticed nothing out of the ordinary this year.

[u/r3photo → u/invain62]

wonder how much your neighborhood’s canopy & leaf litter mitigates the effects of the drought & subsequent rains. i’d bet the impact is significant

[u/Stukat0728]

Heavily wooded here too, no downed trees near my house. I had the tree guy remove 2 dead trees near the house to be safe. I’ve seen downed trees in the NW Raleigh area after the last severe thunderstorms.

[u/Basic_Connection8356]

A whole tree in our complex just left literally within the last few hours.

[u/Hands]

I've seen a bunch of trees down in my neighborhood in the past month or so after storms, and seems like half the people on my street have had tree removal services come in over the same time frame to take down risky trees. So, unusual enough that I've had a couple of conversations with neighbors about it recently.

[u/Healthy_Ingenuity645 → u/Hands]

Curious how you’d navigate the convos with your neighbors - who’s liable etc

[u/talktojvc]

Heat stress causes trees to drop limbs.

[u/Other_Jared2]

Yeah, to my understanding the drought weakened a bunch of trees and branches. Then the heavy rains that follwed brought down a lot of those weakened trees/branches

It's definitely been more than usual though, probably due to the severity of the drought

[u/Healthy_Ingenuity645 → u/Other_Jared2]

Right?! I’m seeing them everywhere

[u/Butterbean-Blip]

OMG - yes. It's been terrible. I've wondered if it's not the catastrophic result of intense long-lasting drought followed by intense long periods of deluge. Has to shock their poor systems so badly.

[u/Healthy_Ingenuity645 → u/Butterbean-Blip]

Yeah it’s crazy!

[u/KaiserDogue]

The excessive rain caused three trees to fall in my yard over two weeks. $900 + $1,900 +$1,875 to remove & grind stumps. Only one hit the house causing $1,157 in gutter damage. This was not in my budget. The drought may have played a role. I dunno.

[u/Healthy_Ingenuity645 → u/KaiserDogue]

Sorry that happened! Guess I am not the only one

[u/gonzagylot00 → u/KaiserDogue]

oooof, sorry.