![]() “Certainly with rain anticipated throughout the day today and next few days it was a priority to protect these homeowners’ property inside the home,” Shivers said. In Monday’s incident, Shivers said firefighters cautiously removed small sections of the tree in order to cover the roof with a tarp. The county does not provide such services. Wallace said those with concerns should contact a certified arborist to inspect trees on their property. “You may be adding hundreds of pounds of ice to a large tree and that can certainly cause them to topple over,” he said. Wintry weather can make the situation worse, Wallace said, with the weight of ice on an unhealthy tree adding more stress to damaged roots. ![]() He said construction also can damage roots. ![]() “And that allows root disease to get into the trees and causes the roots to further die and rot and lose strength.” Wallace said if the top foliage, such as small branches, of a tree appears to be dying, that may be a sign of drought damage. “After we’ve had these prolonged droughts the smaller roots begin to die, kind of like a wound if you will,” he said. “Compound that with winds that you get a lot of times with storms and you can see how that loosens the trees’ support systems, the roots, and makes them much more susceptible to wind throw.” In addition, Wallace said, the drought stresses trees and makes them more susceptible to disease and insects. “That lessens the contact between the roots and the soil and when you have a heavy rainfall the soil is going to loosen up because it’s so moist and saturated,” he said. Forsyth County Arborist Greg Wallace didn’t know about the specific incident, but said dry soil and roots contract from each other during a prolonged drought, leaving small voids in the ground. It appears the rain loosened the roots and caused the tree to fall, Shivers said. “Fortunately in this case, there was no need for that. “If there’s a rescue to be performed you have to enter into a very technical form of response,” Shivers said. In such cases firefighters first determine whether anyone is stuck inside the structure or injured. Jason Shivers said the entire right side of the home had heavy damage from the tree’s impact. Forsyth County firefighters removed parts of the tree and placed a tarp over Loney’s home to help prevent further damage. Her husband, Steve Ray, had already left for work. I was standing right where the tree hit the worst.” Loney and her two dogs were able to get out of the family’s home of 28 years without injury. “I was standing in the bathroom and all of a sudden I heard a loud sound,” Loney said. an oak tree from her backyard fell across the right side of her Southers Circle home. She was getting ready for work Monday morning when something crashed above her. Janet Loney is just grateful no one got hurt. It’s a situation, officials said, that could happen more often as winter approaches. A combination of drought followed by heavy rain is being blamed for toppling a tree on a south Forsyth home Monday.
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