The Panic of Isabel is over.
Wednesday the announcement went out that Metro would close aboveground in high winds - and then for some odd reason Metro decided to just shut down at 11am, based on reports that the storm would strike earlier than expected. Well, once you have no buses and no Metro to get to work, you drive, right? On that panicing vision, the Feds shut down (and giving me the day off, hurrah). All day, we took long walks in the bright grey morning, and loafed around, waiting for the storm to hit.
here's pictures from the overwhelming devestation (not!).
Rains arrived in sheets every once in a while like any other thunderstorm. The power across the street went out - we could see candlelight flickering in their homes - but ours stayed on except for five one-second flickers at various points through the night.
Today work is off again - this morning the radio said 1 million without power in Virginia, one million in Maryland, and 700,000 in DC. No paper, eegads. Repair crews were focusing on restoring power to emergency facilities and governement buildings. Another Fed day off! The sun is bright, the day is balmy, and Dakota and I took a long walk, trying to find evidence of disaster. The worst we found was one tree felled, which hit a car. The interstate is completely clear. Amazing. Of course ParkFairfax folks are scurrying around tidying up branches in their little white trucks.
The large tree that fell on Gunston Rd. had a diameter of probably 2.5 feet. There was a "Woodlands Committee" member there, who explained how the root system on the fungus-y side was damaged, most likely by something as simple as a bulldozer compacting the earth at some point. Trees can take 5-10 years to die after root damage - few are usually left suburbias at that point who remember the original cause. One of the things you don't realize about trees is how near the surface most of their roots are - and how much air their roots need. You can smother some types of trees in just a couple inches of dirt. The root system shows how little root there was on the fungus sides. Trees will usually fight fungus if healthy, so fungus on the roots is a big indicator of lack of health.
I found this surreal-looking silhouette of the tree base utterly beautiful.
Posted by argus at September 19, 2003 04:35 PM
