We have all just about had enough of this heat. Not too many people you speak to are enjoying it. On Sunday we had our hottest day ever for February ....44.7C and silly me went to a Kaszazz Demonstration. They said that we would be having the larger room than what we normally do for our Card/Scrapbooking workshops and it would be cooler in there. Hahahaha.....it was so hot in there, the air conditioning couldn't keep up.
On Monday we had a small respite from the heat but during the night gale force winds came and caused havoc. Trees fell on cars and houses, power lines came down and there are still thousands of people without power. Even one of Adelaide's prestigious colleges had their windows blown out. The emergency services said it was the worst damage they had seen.
Because of our hot weather the trees are under stress. We have hardly had any rain and so the ground is bone dry. When we get strong winds the trees and/or limbs just come crashing down. Plus we have lots of gum trees planted as streetscape trees. They grow so big, the limbs overhang house roofs and so when they fall, it's peoples' homes that get damaged. Gum trees have no place growing in suburbia in my opinion.
All photos taken from Adelaide Now
On Monday, with just a strong breeze a limb of a tree fell onto a 2 year old while he was riding his bike in the park. He got a broken leg out of it, but others have not been so lucky (if you can call it that), they have lost their lives.
I am not anti trees. We need them, but there so many more beautiful types of trees that can be grown. The nicest streets are those that have trees that are not too tall and have a shady canopy. Gum trees are so messy by dropping their bark, leaves and limbs and hardly anything grows underneath them. I would love to see them all replaced and just grown in the bush.
Wow, summer is not so nice this year. We have quite a lot of streets lined with very tall trees. I think when the streets were laid out, no one took the time to think about how tall these trees would be when full grown or if they would be dangerous during storms. My house is surrounded by extremely tall trees. I call them my gentle giants. Over the years, we've only had one or two branches fall onto the house or shed., so I guess we've been quite lucky.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting about the Chinese New Year. Their horoscope is much like ours with numbers, colors, etc. A wonderful New Year to you. I do hope with all this heat and not enough rain that you stay safe and healthy. That koala bear didn't seem too happy with the heat either. You have a wonderful day, hugs, Edna B.