The old bromide says that you should be careful what you wish for because you may get it certainly applies to me today. I wished for more rain, and it came yesterday evening. Unfortunately, it came in the form several violent downbursts, with winds about 60 mph and 1.60 inches of rain in less than 20 minutes.Downbursts have vertically circulating circles of air with wind speeds up to 60 mph, driving rain vertically and then horizontally in a vortex ring. The end result of our downbursts were seven Chilean Mesquites and two Willow Acacias uprooted, sixteen potted cacti blown over and out of their pots, lawn furniture tossed and damaged, and standing water everywhere in my garden. Many neighbors also have uprooted trees and other damage, and our next-door neighbor’s huge gazebo collapsed into his swimming pool.
Since Arizona has few natural disasters other than a very rare flood, one never expects to see such violent weather activity, even during the Arizona monsoon. Compared to some of the weather related disasters that have occurred around the world, this event wouldn’t even register, but it makes me sad to lose trees and plants.
The landscape maintenance crew will be over today to see if any of the trees are salvageable, and I’ll be repotting the cacti. “Que sera sera” with the trees. At least I won’t be trying to get a 20 x 20 foot gazebo out of the pool, as my neighbor will be doing.
I'm sorry to hear about your trees - I hope some can be saved. At least you can repot the cactus and they'll be okay.
ReplyDeleteYour neighbour's gazebo is another story.
Storms like this always make us realise just how the weather can change in the blink of an eye.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteAnother landscape maintenence crew arrived today to see if the trees can be raised and staked. The first company over yesterday wanted to take them out and run them through a chipper, so I told them I wanted to try someone else. The new crew seemed more hopeful and they are assessing the damage right now. I'll soon know the fate of my lovely trees.
P.S. The neighbor's gazebo is still in the pool. I don't know what his intentions are at this point. Maybe he's waiting for the insurance company!