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How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

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Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#21

Post by js2 »

A palm tree, speared by a piece of lumber during Hurricane Andrew:

https://imgur.com/a/3f77mEa

I was in Miami for Andrew. My dad owned a one-hour photo lab. After the storm, there were tons of insurance adjusters needing their photos developed. My dad and I got his lab open the day after Andrew and ran it on a portable generator for two weeks till the power came back. This was one of the photos we printed during that period. Fun times.

The palm trees did fine. Miami also has ficus trees planted all over the place. Huge canopies. Huge root structures, but the roots are very broad and shallow. In my neighborhood, every ficus tree was toppled with its roots pulling up sidewalks and grass. This is not from Andrew, but it looks like this:

https://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/56181...

It's hard to convey the destructiveness of Andrew to folks who weren't there, but this gives some idea:

https://historycollection.com/31-images-hurricane-andrew-des...

Apparently that tree is a celebrity. I didn't realize there were a bunch of picture of it on the Internet till now:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hurricane+andrew+palm+tree&ia=imag...

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#22

Post by nkrisc »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #10

Because they bend. During a storm they'll just go with the wind. One of the sickest, saddest sounds during a storm is when a pine or oak snaps. Oaks especially will creak and moan during a storm. Right before the wet snap of it breaking it will sometimes moan/creak loud as if it knows it's fate.

Surprisingly loud.

A tree next to my house snapped in half during some freak 90mph (145km/h) gusts and it sounded like a small explosion, though not as fast since it didn't all happen at once. But I really though something had exploded until I noticed the tree out the window was no longer quite as tall as it used to be. It was a large, live tree too, but can't remember what kind it was. It was on a lot next to my house that was undeveloped for at least 100 years, and farmland some time before that.

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#23

Post by tomrod »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #17
post_break wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2. dried fallen palm leaves are extremely dangerous, they are sharp as a knife. I was getting rid of some and it just touched my arm, I now have a 4" scar where it looks like I was trying to self harm. 3. I don't think so, my bamboo or cotton wood trees make so much more debris. At least with palms they are large debris and can easily be tossed. One thing people don't realize is how much of a pain it is to cut leaves…

4. Dried leaves are highly flammable. Had to clear a big pile of dried mixed palm and cordyline leaves, and decided to burn them. Big mistake. They're full of oils. Be very careful with that. Annoyingly for the same reason they don't really rot, so getting rid of them can be a pain.

Use them as roofing on a pergola? Mimic what lots of equatorial cultures do.

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#24

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

nkrisc wrote: post #22
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #10

Because they bend. During a storm they'll just go with the wind. One of the sickest, saddest sounds during a storm is when a pine or oak snaps. Oaks especially will creak and moan during a storm. Right before the wet snap of it breaking it will sometimes moan/creak loud as if it knows it's fate.

Surprisingly loud. A tree next to my house snapped in half during some freak 90mph (145km/h) gusts and it sounded like a small explosion, though not as fast since it didn't all happen at once. But I really though something had exploded until I noticed the tree out the window was no longer quite as tall as it used to be. It was a large, live tree too, but can't remember what kind it was. It was on a lot next to my hou…

Was paddling down a river the other day and a giant oak fell. Sounded like gunshots at first, then maybe fireworks, and by that time I noticed what looked like a T-Rex moving around among the trees, the tree finally came down on another tree and fell into the water.

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#25

Post by irrational »

forinti wrote: post #8
quickthrower2 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have a couple of palms near the back yard fence and yeah would not want that debris to hit me on the head. From 10m high could be a KO!

I don't get it why cities plant palms along streets: they offer little or no shade and they drop enormous leaves that can hurt people or damage cars.

I grew up in south Florida where all the streets were lined with palm trees. I never heard of a person or car being hurt/damaged by falling palm leaves. It has probably happened, but must be exceedingly rare. Then again, I never saw downed leaves along the roads or any city trucks doing pick up, so now I wonder how and when they were picked up.

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#26

Post by DelaneyM »

We have a dense line of palm trees protecting our shoreline on our property (South Caribbean), and ours is the only house on a long coast which hasn't lost metres of land to oceans over the past decade. (Our neighbours have prioritised private beaches, I like my farmland.) It's easily visible on Google Maps satellite view, but I'm not sure I want to post a link to my house...

Because they're all that's holding the property together their root systems are exposed on the seaward side, and they are _massive_. I couldn't build a stronger retaining wall. I wish this article shared some pictures of a palm root system, it's really the most impressive part. Together with seagrape shrubs I think I'm actually reclaiming a few inches a year. I also have some great footage of palm trees bent over nearly 90° in a cat-3 from a few years back.

One thing not mentioned here is the risk under storms of coconuts. In a tropical storm, palm trees become coconut catapults when the trunks whip around at high speed and under tension. We've lost multiple 1"-thick concrete roof tiles to coconut strikes, as well smashing (but not breaching) a cat-3 hurricane door.

Here for the Caribbean content!

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#27

Post by bombcar »

DelaneyM wrote: post #26

We have a dense line of palm trees protecting our shoreline on our property (South Caribbean), and ours is the only house on a long coast which hasn't lost metres of land to oceans over the past decade. (Our neighbours have prioritised private beaches, I like my farmland.) It's easily visible on Google Maps satellite view, but I'm not sure I want to post a link to my house... Because they're all that's holding the pr…

They're basically the trees from Seuss's The King's Stilts.

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#28

Post by bombcar »

irrational wrote: post #25
forinti wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get it why cities plant palms along streets: they offer little or no shade and they drop enormous leaves that can hurt people or damage cars.

I grew up in south Florida where all the streets were lined with palm trees. I never heard of a person or car being hurt/damaged by falling palm leaves. It has probably happened, but must be exceedingly rare. Then again, I never saw downed leaves along the roads or any city trucks doing pick up, so now I wonder how and when they were picked up.

I've seen a few fronds down in Southern California (also many palm trees there) - city maintenance picks them up I presume, and if the trees are "maintained" they don't actually drop many (because they get cut before they can fall).

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#29

Post by Kon-Peki »

ethbr0 wrote: post #3

As someone who recently moved to a part of the US with native palms, a few discoveries that surprised me... 1) Large palms are tough . As in, serious-work-to-pole-saw-through tough. They may looks wispy in the wind, but all of those components (leaves, fruit pods, fruit stalks, leaf shealths) are beyond the strength of an average human to simply pull (tension) apart. 2) Once dried, palm parts are effectively made out…

> The Sears Tower is actually a 3x3 grid of individual towers, connected in a way that allows for lateral motion. This mimics a palm's trunk structure.

If you are easily frightened, do not go up to the top on a windy day. It sways in the wind like a palm tree (side-to-side 10-15 feet, 3-4 meters). And the creaking noises! If you close your eyes, it is easy to imagine that you are in a tall ship 150 years ago.

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#30

Post by echoradio »

js2 wrote: post #21

A palm tree, speared by a piece of lumber during Hurricane Andrew: https://imgur.com/a/3f77mEa I was in Miami for Andrew. My dad owned a one-hour photo lab. After the storm, there were tons of insurance adjusters needing their photos developed. My dad and I got his lab open the day after Andrew and ran it on a portable generator for two weeks till the power came back. This was one of the photos we printed during that…

> Miami also has ficus trees planted all over the place.

Fun story. In 2005, South Florida took two direct hits: Katrina in late August, Wilma in October.

During Katrina, a neighbor’s massive ficus tree was toppled. They were in the process of removing it and had only taken care of the top when Wilma’s impending arrival halted work. Wilma put the tree upright.

Thankfully those storms were nuisances compared to Andrew. I was north of where the eyewall hit, but seeing the aftermath has stuck with me for life. It is hard to believe it has been 30 years.

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