*Hurricane Elvis*, Memphis, July 2003. It had rained for a week-plus prior to the circa 80-90 mph winds hitting the town, and about one tree in three came out of the rain-soaked ground by the roots, blocking the streets and taking utility lines with them. My corner of the town was without power for about 45 days, and there were other sections without utilities for longer than that...and all the groundwater also played hell with underground telephone line connections and other utility services. Photos: photo gallery
Right in the middle of hurricane Ike the idiot neighbor that lived in back of me came out of his house to look at an oak tree in his yard, about the size of the oaks in those pictures, that had come down across the fence and crushed our pool house.
There were limbs anywhere from 2” to 10” coming down out of the trees at the time.
This idiot is standing there under all these oak trees when a second oak in his yard, about a 40”, came down and he didn’t even hear it until it hit the ground about 10’ from him.
When the second tree hit, I could barely see him because it was dark, it scared him so bad he took off running and apparently ran into the root ball of the other tree and his flashlight went flying.
Yes I laughed.