In Central Texas, an urban tree canopy bends to the ice

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AUSTIN — All day and all night time after the ice storm struck, Austin residents listened for the cracks, splinters and crashes. Every crack of a falling limb might shut the ability off — if their house hadn’t gone darkish already.

“It’s a extremely, actually thick layer of ice,” mentioned Jonathan Motsinger, the Central Texas operations division head for Texas A&M Forest Service. “Bushes can solely assist weight to a sure extent, after which they fail.”

Throughout the Texas Hill Nation this week, bushes snapped beneath the burden of ice that amassed throughout a number of days of freezing rain. A few of the most iconic bushes have been among the many most severely broken: dwell oaks (a few of them a whole bunch of years outdated), ashe junipers (the scourge of allergy victims throughout “cedar fever” season), cedar elms. As their branches gave method, they took neighboring energy strains with them.

“The quantity of weight that has amassed on the vegetation might be historic, excessive,” Austin Power normal supervisor Jackie Sargent mentioned throughout a Thursday press convention.

Ice can improve the burden of tree branches as much as 30 occasions, mentioned Kerri Dunn, a communications supervisor for Oncor. The utility reported that just about 143,000 of its prospects in North, Central and West Texas have been with out energy Thursday afternoon.

“Bushes are the No. 1 reason behind outages when you have got ice storms,” Dunn mentioned. “We will’t at all times forestall [trees] from falling within the improper route and hitting our gear.”

Almost 153,000 Austin Power prospects have been with out energy Thursday afternoon, and the utility mentioned it’s unable to supply an estimate for the way lengthy it’s going to take to repair the entire damaged strains.

Correct pruning and upkeep of bushes within the paths of energy strains are the accountability of Austin Power, town’s electrical utility that’s overseen by the Austin Metropolis Council. However metropolis officers mentioned residents are accountable for trimming bushes that aren’t in utility easements however are shut sufficient to energy strains to fall on them throughout storms. Tree pruning can price a whole bunch or hundreds of {dollars}.

Sure bushes usually tend to undergo damaged limbs and cut up trunks throughout ice storms, Motsinger mentioned. Dwell oaks, one of the crucial widespread bushes in Central Texas, are likely to preserve leaves all through the winter — which implies they accumulate extra ice than bushes that drop their leaves within the fall. As evergreens, ashe junipers have the identical drawback in ice storms.

Motsinger mentioned the historic drought final summer time might have prompted bushes to have extra lifeless limbs than ordinary, which usually tend to break when caked with ice. However typically, Motsinger mentioned, the drought most likely had much less of an impression than the sheer quantity of ice.

Correct tree upkeep might have prevented a few of the destruction, he mentioned.

Utilities have plans for managing bushes and different vegetation round energy strains, mentioned Ben Gaffaney, spokesperson for the Affiliation of Electrical Corporations of Texas. He mentioned he heard tree limbs falling round his house Wednesday.

However these plans are typically hampered by native insurance policies, mentioned Sargent, the Austin Power normal supervisor. Efforts to keep away from disturbing hen habitats and to keep away from spreading the fungal illness oak wilt throughout sure occasions of the yr can gradual pruning efforts and are among the many “greatest obstacles” to trimming, an Austin Power spokesperson informed The Texas Tribune.

Sargent mentioned throughout a press convention that the utility would talk about metropolis rules that forestall higher pruning with native leaders.

In some circumstances, the utility additionally has to battle public pushback when it prunes bushes round energy strains — residents typically complain in regards to the utility lopping off massive limbs. The Austin Power spokesperson mentioned that between 40% and 50% of Austin householders delay the utility’s trimming work with questions or disputes about trimming plans.

Michael Webber recalled how residents resisted tree-trimming efforts when he served from 2008-13 on the electrical utility fee that oversaw Austin Power. It left the utility in a troublesome spot: Nobody appreciated tree trimming, however nobody wished to lose energy throughout a storm both, he mentioned.

Webber, now an vitality sources professor on the College of Texas at Austin, mentioned his personal road west of Austin was impassable Thursday due to downed branches, and a colleague is mourning her damaged 150-year-old dwell oak.

Austin Power is among the few utilities within the nation that makes an attempt to fulfill with property house owners upfront of tree trimming, in response to town of Austin. The utility notifies neighborhood associations and leaves work plans at folks’s doorways. When property house owners don’t reply, the utility sends letters to inform householders and proceeds with its trimming plan.

“We might actually use assist in that space with getting our residents to know the significance of vegetation administration to permit our crews in,” Sargent mentioned. The utility’s normal supervisor added that Austin Power has elevated its tree-trimming price range lately. Austin Metropolis Council in 2021 doubled the utility’s price range for vegetation clearing, in response to the utility’s web site, however there’s a backlog of trimming work to be finished.

Austin has nearly 34 million bushes within the metropolis, in response to a web based tree census maintained by Texas A&M Forest Service and the U.S. Forest Service.

“It’s an enormous level of satisfaction,” mentioned Keith Mars, who oversees town of Austin’s Group Tree Preservation Division.

Mars mentioned that shade from the bushes saves Austin residents hundreds of thousands of {dollars} a yr in vitality prices by cooling properties throughout scorching summer time days.

“Bushes are infrastructure,” Mars mentioned. “How a lot upkeep and the way a lot care we offer, in order that [the trees] can proceed offering these different advantages, is the sort of tradeoff that all of us have.”

Sneha Day contributed to this story.

Disclosure: Affiliation of Electrical Corporations of Texas, Oncor and College of Texas at Austin have been monetary supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partially by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no function within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full listing of them right here.