Winter’s been a wrecking ball to Modesto trees, city official reports

Rain and wind have taken a big toll on trees in Modesto this winter, and Mother Nature isn’t done “wreaking havoc,” Mike Hoesch, the city’s forestry superintendent, said Wednesday.

The city has had 650 calls about trees, he said, and 594 were related to storm activity. Most calls were during the most severe storm activity – roughly Jan. 18-24, he said.

“We’ve had 152 trees that had to be removed” because they either uprooted in saturated soil and toppled in high wind gusts, or split or were damaged so severely by branch loss that there was no saving them, Hoesch said.

Additionally, there were 222 responses to broken limbs, Hoesch said. The city still is gathering information on home, vehicle and other property damage caused by falling trees and limbs, he said.

“There really is no determining factor” such as tree health or species that appears to have significantly contributed to tree damage, Hoesch said.

“We do have a large, diverse tree inventory with a lot of different species,” he said, “but all varieties were affected,” among them Chinese pistache, liquidambar and Modesto ash.

Kelly Gallagher, operations manager for Modesto’s parks and forestry departments, referred to 102 trees that fell Jan. 18-19 as “weak,” however.

And Hoesch noted that trees have been stressed by years of drought.

“We were getting down to the red lights coming on,” he said. “It affected a lot of mature trees, as did the watering restrictions. A lot of trees benefit from people watering their lawns,” and many residents let lawns go brown or switched to drought-tolerant landscaping.

It can take years for the effects of drought to be seen in some trees, Hoesch said. And even though the 2015-16 rainfall total was well above the seasonal average, and the current season, which ends June 30, already is above average, years of drought still are having an effect on mature trees, he said.

“But coming out of the drought and having this rain is a great benefit to mature trees and ones we’re planting now. They’re not fighting for water,” Hoesch said.

The city hasn’t been through a storm of this severity and broad impact since 2006 or 2007, he said. One of those storm seasons, he said, forestry workers responded to about 2,500 calls about tree trouble. “So this year’s been quick storms with a lot of impact, but trees held up very well,” Hoesch said.

The city has a knowledgeable staff of arborists and tree risk assessors, he said. Residents with concerns about the safety of a tree can call 209-342-2249 to request that it be looked at. And in the event of a tree emergency, that number reaches an after-hours service.

As stormy weather continues this week, the National Weather Service advises that gusts in Modesto could reach 30 mph. And a flood watch that already had been in effect has been elevated to a flood warning in effect until 9:15 Saturday morning.

Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., the Tuolumne River was at 52.6 feet in Modesto and was predicted to reach 53 feet by 1 p.m. before beginning to recede. Flood stage is 55 feet.

Dry Creek in Modesto was at 78.7 feet at 10 a.m. Wednesday and was expected to peak at 79 feet by 8 p.m. Friday.

The chance of rain Wednesday is 70 percent, according to the weather service, with amounts between a 10th and a quarter of an inch possible.

Thursday carries an 80 percent chance of rain, mainly after 11 a.m., with up to half an inch possible. The chance of rain rises to 100 percent that night, and up to three-quarters of an inch more rain.

The chance of rain continues through Friday night, after which Saturday should be mostly sunny, and Sunday through Tuesday sunny.

This story was originally published February 8, 2017 at 11:22 AM with the headline "Winter’s been a wrecking ball to Modesto trees, city official reports."