How strong are trees?

Rich802

We have these trees in our yard that have been there forever, there really tall for being in a neighbourhood , id say like 100+ feet but not sure. The hurricane is on its way to us and i was just wondering what the chances are of them falling down. the bases are like 2-3 feet wide.
thanks.

Eric Frei

When Yasi hit the north QLD coast it pretty much flattened everything, snapped trees in half.

All depends on the wind speed.

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Rich802

like 70mph.

Eric Frei

That's not too bad.

That's around 110km/h

If the trees roots are sound, soil OK and there is sufficient area around the tree for roots to grow then you may experience smaller branch failures, poorly attached branches torn off etc.

So, co-dominant unions especially included bark co-dominant unions likely to fail.

V and U shaped Crotch Strengths, included bark| codominant stems etc

There's preferred species and tree heights for hurricane prone areas. You really want trees to the peak of house roofs in height. Preferable bushy to ground so slows down wind speed and catches debris, if they blow over they wont have a lot of weight and may lean up against a house to provide shelter, especially to windows shielding flying debris.

They found Melaleuca leucadendron and golden cane palms here really good.

So you guys need to think about similar trees.

Both of the above have decent wide root systems so they hang on root wise too.

But to have a 150' gum tree 10' from your house in a cyclone/hurricane area is not real wise.

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