MACON, Ga. —
Central Georgia has been in a drought much of this summer, and now, rain and heavy winds are expected this weekend. These are perfect conditions for trees to uproot, according to Marnie Gray, a supervisor at Gray Brothers Tree Services.
"The calls have picked up over the last week or so. Because we’ve had the rain earlier this week, people started to get a little bit concerned," Gray said.
The concern is because Central Georgia is expecting rain and wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour.
Gray Brothers were out at a home in west Macon for that reason.
"It’s a big double oak tree, and it has a split down the middle," Gray said.
These are perfect conditions for the tree to split and cause damage.
"With the long drought we’ve had this year, trees are much more susceptible to get root rot, which weakens their roots underground," she said.
The dry conditions also attracts bugs in any kind of tree, Gray says.
When the heavy rain comes in, all the water is soaked up into the tree, weighing down the limbs and moistening the soil.
"It’s like overfilling a cup. It’s going to tip over," Gray said. "It’s too much water too fast. Then, with the wind, it would pull it over."
So how strong do winds have to be to take down a large tree? Gray says between 40 to 50 mph, which is what is forecast this weekend.
She says any type of tree can uproot, but in particular, live trees are more likely to because of their limbs and foliage.
"They catch more wind. They have a lot more resistance," she said.
If the tree is dead, it’s more likely to break in half rather than come out from the ground, according to Gray.
She recommends to inspect the trees in your yard regularly and to look out for roots picking up or uneven ground around a tree.
However, Gray says it’s not always what you can see above ground. She says oftentimes, it’s what happens underneath the ground in the roots.
"It’s all about the ground and how the system is underneath the ground,' Gray said. "It’s like somebody having cancer -- you can’t really tell it from the outside."
She said if you see any of those signs above ground or are unsure if a tree is sturdy enough to withstand a storm, to contact a tree service expert to assess.
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