Author Topic: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05  (Read 4964 times)

HMHausman

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Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« on: January 25, 2012, 06:31:29 PM »
In a thread posted by Gary a/k/a mangofang, mangodog, mangocanine, etc., etc,......he was wondering about having to deal with annual hurricanes here in Florida.  I said I would post some Wima aftermath shots.  Here's a video, sorry for the poor quality.  For those who have been in my yard, there is quite a stark contrast between now and then.

Harry
http://youtu.be/9XBOvyJVTzs
Harry
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Tropicalgrower89

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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #1 on: January 25, 2012, 06:45:14 PM »
Was that a mamey sapote I saw in that video?


I still remember looking out my back yard during Wilma in west pines. I could literally here the roof shake.

I see the hurricane blew the bleachers over from Western High School.   :o  I'm also shocked how your ficus trees stood through the hurricane. Usually, they would tip over easily.
« Last Edit: January 25, 2012, 08:28:41 PM by Tropicalgrower89 »
Alexi

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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #2 on: January 25, 2012, 07:40:58 PM »
wow- that must have been truly heartbreaking

GwenninPR

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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2012, 07:57:06 PM »
Lalalalalala- I can't hear you.   No talk of hurricanes now...this is our safe time. Hurricane season will be here soon enough.

Seriously, that is horrible.   Looking at your current yard pictures, you have done an amazing job.  A phoenix from the ashes.

Tim

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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2012, 08:17:23 PM »
holy cow!!! very disheartening ... glad you hung in there though, never lose the passion.
Tim

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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #5 on: January 25, 2012, 08:24:50 PM »
Wow Harry!

What incredible footage!  How very heartbreaking!  You have done an incredible job in your rebuilding efforts.  Best wishes down the road.  Thanks for sharing.

murahilin

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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2012, 08:49:58 PM »
That large mangosteen you mentioned last weekend... was it under those bleachers?

Do you have any pictures or video of your yard before the hurricane?

You did an excellent job making everything look whole again. I don't think anyone can tell that a hurricane did that much damage to your trees anymore.

JF

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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2012, 08:54:18 PM »
wow Harry, was there any trees spared from that hurricane??

JF

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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #8 on: January 26, 2012, 12:03:21 PM »
Alexi:

Yes, that was a mamey that was along side of my shadehouse that collapsed under the weight of the portable bleecher sections that blew over from the school.  The mamey was actually a seedling that had green sapote grafted on a portion of it.  The entire tree died shortly after this video was taken as the result of being partially uprooted.  As far as the ficus trees,  mine are not the standard South Florida ficus with the very dense canopies that are extremely top heavy and blow over every storm.  I had one of those, but it blew over in Hurricane Andrew, years before.  These two that I have left in the front yard have very open habits as far as canopies go. The winds mostly blew through them and just took off some major limbs and branches without uprooting the tree.

Murahilin:

Yes, under those bleechers was a mangosteen tree that I had grown from seed.  It was planted in around 1995 and was about 8 feet tall (counting the pot).  The trunk had grown to about an inch in diameter.  It had never flowered but I lament the fact that it might have within a year or two.  I kick myself to this day for not bringing it into the house or garage prior to the storm.  I do have some videos of my yard that were taken over the years, but most of these were taken when my trees were very young and I was documenting every new leaf .  I don't think I have any of the yard just before the storm hit.

JF:

There were some trees that just lost leaves and no branches.  They were few and far between.  Most of my mango trees just fell over one on top of the other.  My large Brewster lychee was pretty well intact other than leaf loss.  It was the largest of my trees that fared well in the winds.

Thanks to everyone else for the consoling comments.  It was a very difficult time.  It took over a month to hat rack every tree that was down, pull it with a car back into upright or as near to upright position that I could.  There was virtually no fruit for two years thereafter.  I totally got away from the hobby during that time....taking up chess to fill my time. Then in the thrid year....fruit started returning and in 2009, the hobby was back in full swing. I posted for the first time on garden Web in fall of 2009.

Harry
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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #9 on: January 26, 2012, 12:59:29 PM »
After watching that video i wanted to throw up,brought back some BAD memories,we were totally trashed also,and they continue to say it was a cat 1,I beg to differ,we where out just after the eye passed and believe me in Davie we had much worse than any Cat 1 could produce. I wont sleep tonite thinking of the next one!, at least we can always replant,but its tough watching hard work go to waste!
That's living in south fl for ya!

Ethan

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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #10 on: January 26, 2012, 02:06:26 PM »
Wow Harry, what an incredible video, nice choice on the music too.  Having only seen recent pictures, the video gives a better idea how big your yard is without all those trees blocking the way.  It amazes me how fast (to me) you place has recovered and returned to a tropical fruit paradise.  Thankfully those bleachers only hit the greenhouse and not your home.

I think I'll stick w/earthquakes, at least they surprise you.

-Ethan

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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #11 on: January 26, 2012, 05:47:06 PM »
Harry - Hearbreak Harry - makes our 70mph winds looks like spring breezes compared
to your hell!  But what a recovery many things made....Did you ever count the fruit trees you lost?

Still, with those kind of winds (how big was the largest gust, and what was sustained?) I'm not sure even a short pugged tree would hold up, as something short and dense would catch much of the wind, too.  I guess for us in Cali where to get 70-80 mph winds is really quite rare, pugging our trees into short stout canopies (what like maybe 8' X 8' ?) might prove useful.....hard to tell.....and then again you mentioned the open tall ficus trees did OK....so....hmmmmmm......

Certainly putting in more heavy duty stakes and poles wouldn't hurt for us...but for your climate, I'm really not convinced short stocky trees would do any better (in hurricane winds).


Thanks for the (bad) memory (for you!)

mangoperro

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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #12 on: October 04, 2015, 04:53:30 PM »
Came across this video as I sit through Hurricane Joaquin....for me having seen the 'after' before seeing the 'before' makes it all the more stark. 

Cookie Monster

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Re: Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05
« Reply #13 on: October 04, 2015, 06:06:21 PM »
Yah, Wilma did a number on the trees. My yard is about 1/1000th the size of yours and it still took me a couple of weeks to clean up debris and prune and right the trees that were salvageable.

The best bet is to keep the trees under 15 feet ... but that requires one to be non-lazy, and even tending to ~80 trees on 1/2 acre on regular basis is a monstrous chore -- so not all the trees get kept at ideal height.

But the thing that most surprised me was how fast the trees came back. Florida weather is generally conducive to growing like crazy. Coming from southern california (where trees grow at a snail's pace), I didn't expect things to recover so quickly

Wilma was actually a strong category 2 when it crossed Broward. I was on my laptop monitoring wind speeds when the front portion passed and was seeing gusts in the 110 - 115 mph range.

Our neighbors ended up bulldozing their house, which eventually led to us being able to acquire the empty lot.
Jeff  :-)