Chapter  1

  Introduction


Following a severe August, 1990, tornado that struck Kane, Kendall, and Will Counties in Illinois, a consortium of concerned federal, state and university agencies decided to prepare a disaster mitigation handbook to serve the 20 states of the Northeastern Area. This second edition of Storms over the Urban Forest has been expanded to serve the needs of all 50 states. Emphasizing practicality, this manual is intended first, to assist community governmental agencies to prepare for natural disasters and second, to recover from the subsequent loss of vegetation. Throughout the document, the use of proper tree maintenance and tree planting techniques are emphasized.

Throughout the world, violent weather is a constant companion to the other natural and social disasters which strike the global inhabitants (Anon. 1985):

  • Nearly 2,000 thunderstorms are in progress at any moment.
  • 45,000 thunderstorms and related phenomena occur daily.
  • Annually, 16 million violent storms bombard the land surface.
  • Lightening strikes the earth 100 times each second.

In the United States, from 1959 to 1984, the violent children of mother storm clouds generated these statistics:

  • Every year, at least 100,000 thunderstorms rumble across the sky.
  • On an annual basis, 100 people are killed and 250 are severely injured.
  • Most of the death and destruction of people and urban vegetation occurs in the eastern half of the nation.
Table 1. Social costs, including urban tree losses, in America resulting from violent weather during the concentrated period of 1970 to 1976 (on an annual basis) (Kessler, 1983)
Event

Human Deaths

Property Damage
$Million
Tornado 125 300
Lightning 110 200
Hail less than five 750
Thunderstrom flood 165   100*
*Damage from all floods was about $1 Billion.

One final set of statistics, relating to hurricanes, involves the phenomenon of "storm surge." Storm surge refers to a rapid rise of sea level that occurs as a hurricane approaches a coastline. In 1990, 6,000 deaths plagued Galveston, Texas. Hurricane Audrey, in 1957, developed a storm surge which killed 390 in Louisiana. Thousands of coastal, urban trees were devastated. And in 1928 the flood waters of Lake Okeechobee, driven by hurricane winds, caused 1,836 human deaths (Pielke 1990).

More than 80% of the population of the United States lives in cities and communities, and this percentage continues to increase. Recently, because of the heightened public interest in the environment, people began placing a greater emphasis on having a healthy urban forest. Current interest in urban forestry is capitalizing on the public awareness of the value of trees to ameliorate our otherwise rather bleak urban landscapes. People understand the need for long-term care of urban forests. Because of the often severe impact of natural disasters on the urban forest, people are supportive of management activities which help ensure that natural disaster damage is minimized. They also accept the concept that it is necessary to replace trees destroyed by natural disasters.

To compound the problems associated with natural disaster damage, two new components further challenge urban forest management: 1) increasing property values (enhanced by the value of trees), and 2) ever sprawling urban areas, which make regreening more extensive in the aftermath of violent weather.

A number of organizations, public and private, are concerned with vegetation damage mitigation. The USDA Forest Service, state natural resource agencies, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), often work together with other agencies and organizations during natural disasters. State Foresters can provide necessary mitigation information during and following a storm using information and services of various newspaper and television media. Nonprofit institutions such as the National Arbor Day Foundation (NADF), American Forests (AF), and the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) now sponsor a variety of educational programs which relate directly to urban forest disaster mitigation. NADF edits and distributes a series of Tree City USA Bulletins with relevant topics such as "When a Storm Strikes," "How to Hire an Arborist," and "How to Select and Plant a Tree." AF publishes the bimonthly magazine "Urban Forests." Relevant subjects in issues included "Global ReLeaf," "Hurricane Hugo ReLeaf," and "Planting New Life in The City." ISA publishes the "journal of Arboriculture," "Arborists News," and "ISA Today." Relevant articles in these include; "England Before and After the Hurricane of 1987," "Hurricane Hugo Damage," "Photo Guide to Hazard Tree Recognition," and "Wounds on Trees."

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