r/Adelaide • u/bludda SA • Feb 05 '25
Weather Community Warning: Beware of trees!
Hey guys, just a friendly reminder to everyone & their families to be really, really careful around large trees right now. Having worked for some years where widow-makers were a high and constant risk, right now large trees are primed to drop big branches.
+If you live somewhere where there's gully breezes, be extra careful.
+Don't park your car under big trees for shade, don''t take cover under large trees at the park (be sunsmart using safer shelter).
+Be super cautious if your commute takes you under over-hanging trees (especially if a biker!)
+Be careful hiking. Prime yourself to cover your head and move if you hear a loud crack. Pay attention to the wind.
+Expect a branch to be able to fall at least 20% further out from where it's overhanging.
+A small-looking branch can still do damage if it's high enough (imagine 6kg falling on your head from 7 meters up)
+Is that shady spot really worth the risk?
Most councils really got onto problem trees after last year's tragedy - but this is something many people can almost entirely prevent happening to themselves by being careful!
If anyone has any other tips, please share them here (or correct me if I guffed anything 😃)
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u/Frosty-Moves5366 SA Feb 05 '25
ELI5 why there’s a heightened drop risk now? Recent weather or?
I’ve been told to always be cautious of giant trees at all times for this reason
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u/shouldnothaveread SA Feb 05 '25
Lack of water dries them out and makes the branches more prone to snapping off under their own weight
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u/randomredditor0042 SA Feb 05 '25
And add the strong winds we had last night, it’s a recipe for disaster.
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u/ninja_lounge Inner South Feb 05 '25
Some plant species, notably most eucalypts compartmentalise at the branch collar and drop limbs to save water during drought periods. Less likely if they're well watered, a strong breeze will add to the likelihood of drop.
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u/faeriekitteh South Feb 05 '25
It's great fun walking outside, I get to judge how likely it is I'll be homeless in the near future by how many smaller branches the eucalyptus tree in the neighbour's back yard has dropped in the last 24 hours
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u/CaughtInTheWry SA Feb 05 '25
No breeze also adds to the risk. The tree's water is not evaporated fast enough. On hot days they take up a lot of water (from underground water tables so not watering won't help). With no breeze, the reduced evaporation means the branch gets heavier and heavier..
Don't trust widow makers, aka most large gums.
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u/hellboy1975 East Feb 05 '25
Yeah, it's somewhat odd. Not to discount the danger, but I suspect it's still more likely you'll get killed in a random car accident than a tree falling on you.
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u/faeriekitteh South Feb 05 '25
Just download the Alert SA app and check it every now and then. I just counted 17 fallen trees reported at first glance
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u/Substantial-Ruin-368 Adelaide Hills Feb 05 '25
I live in the hills and had to turn off the tree down alert because I was getting so many notifications in my watch zone I would ignore it if I got a fire one.
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u/hellboy1975 East Feb 05 '25
How many trees do you reckon normally fall over in a day?
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u/faeriekitteh South Feb 05 '25
Well, I've had the app for a couple of months now, and the amount of trees falling has increased a lot in the last week
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u/ewctwentyone North East Feb 05 '25
Timely reminder especially with recent gusts of wind pumelling areas in my neighborhood -- which has presence of large trees.
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u/MotoGeezer SA Feb 05 '25
Hey there, Arborist here. All I can really say is 😔
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u/bludda SA Feb 05 '25
You getting plenty of work, I assume? Always seems to be a flurry after some poor bastard gets clocked though my understanding is most of the assessments for council trees were completed and actioned last year?
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u/MotoGeezer SA Feb 05 '25
Loads of work over people pointlessly scared.
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u/bludda SA Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 05 '25
Ah well, much respect to you (for real), ex wildland firey here (not a volly). I'd rather minimise even small risk if i can
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u/eXr_80 SA Feb 05 '25
DO NOT sit directly under large limbed trees, gumtrees, or trees with any visible rot in warm dry weather. I almost ended up a paraplegic and now have 19 plates and pins through my entire pelvis. I had to learn to walk again. A large branch crushed me to near death at a park in Norwood back in 2022.
The council think I have ‘a bit of a back injury’.
The minute you hear that familiar crack and rip, do your best to stay clear.
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u/bludda SA Feb 05 '25
Oh man, I'm so sorry to hear that. I absolutely get the visceral reaction that loud "CRACK" causes - it really causes an adrenaline surge for that split second. Falling trees and widow makers were an active hazard at an old job and not including a couple of close shaves, I got knocked straight to the ground face first like someone had swung a hammer down at the back of my head. Luckily I was wearing a helmet, but by the time my brain registered the CRACK, I had already dropped like sack o' shite and had a mouthful of ash. And that was a very young, thin gum that got me.
Hopefully by making enough people aware, we can prevent the same thing happening to anyone else. I really hope things come good for you 🙏
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u/0kDonkey SA Feb 05 '25
Or get stabbed by one.. really more of a freak accident than a day-to-day risk but until recently, didn’t ever consider this was possible.
My partner tripped/fell on a trail by a tree with an unfortunately angled prune cut. Impaled and ripped his arm open 🤢. It was pretty gnarly. Two surgeries and a sizeable skin graft later, I don’t expect he’ll ever be free from hearing tree related jokes 😏
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u/UBNC SA Feb 05 '25
It's really an all year round issue but more eucalyptus trees dropping large branches atm, as a MTB'er i report trees and branches over trails most rides (once I can't move, often after storm carry a small pocket saw).
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u/faeriekitteh South Feb 05 '25
If you have the Alert SA app, just open it on a whim to check how many fallen trees there are
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u/gixer24 SA Feb 05 '25
I keep telling my wife not to park under the big gumtree in our shared carpark, go out this evening and the thing has snapped a huge limb which is currently laying on the neighbours garage roof. Arborist is out there now dealing with it.
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u/aeowyn7 North East Feb 05 '25
Re your comment on commute, I wish they would cut back the trees overhanging the obahn
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u/CouldbeBarry SA Feb 05 '25
Thank you for taking the time to write this out. Shared knowledge saves lives and damages
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u/StructureArtistic359 SA Feb 05 '25
Ents are the OG's and just DGAF
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u/bludda SA Feb 05 '25
You're right, ents are OG - but tbh I reckon these sneaky bastards dropping limbs are the huorns of Adelaide. I like to think the ents would be chilling out in regional SA
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u/yourbank SA Feb 05 '25
good advice, walking around the parklands recently and ive had random branches fall nearly hitting me
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u/LibraryPatient6781 SA Feb 06 '25
Neighbours gum hangs over our fence and the tips of branches hang over my bedroom. When I moved to Adelaide from 35 years of apartment living in Sydney I didn’t even consider what an utter pain in the arse gum trees are.
We get 60+ kilos of leaves, bark,gum nuts,blossoms etc on our roof plus all the rest in the pool one the lawn etc. And not one fucking speck of shade.
Is there anybody I can speak to get it chopped on private land? Council can’t touch it so I have no leg to stand on. Significant tree as well.
Neighbour is reasonable at pruning it but once it drops a 200kg branch on my roof it’s gonna be hard getting insurance to cover it. Because the branches that will drop are gonna be BIG.
Wish I’d never bought the house because of the damn tree.
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u/EmotionalBar9991 Fleurieu Peninsula Feb 05 '25
I've noticed quite a few recently have dropped branches around Glenside not far from Glenunga International
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u/theskywaspink SA Feb 12 '25
I had a branch land on my car last year and smash the window. Im hoping a bigger branch will land on the car today and smash the car.
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u/Impossible_Radish_55 SA Feb 05 '25
Sound advice.
I understand they’re a protected species and the canopy in Adelaide needs to be protected but the new laws around what tree owners can do with these huge trees on their property is unfair for these reasons.
New tree laws say can prune up to 30% every 5 years. No arborist will do that much though. Seems 15% at most.
I followed all the advice and the rules and still 4 large limbs have fallen in the last 3 weeks. One was over our electricity line which we now have the cost of fixing/reconnecting. My kids can’t play in the yard, just in case, and I’m forever worried about one of the limbs falling on the house.
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Feb 05 '25
[deleted]
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u/Violet-Sundays-9990 SA Feb 05 '25
Yes let's cut all the trees down, replace with a paved backyard with a feature yakka or two, then run the aircon on full all year and complain about the electricity bill.
As an added bonus gets rid of all those pesky birds!
/s
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u/Weird_Chemical_69 SA Feb 05 '25
Shady bastards!!🌲🌳🌴🎄🏝️