Hurricane Ivan - Damage to Our Neighbors Who Live on Our Block
Text and Photos Copyright ©2004 by Carolyne Butler
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Even little things such as our neighbors' mailboxes took a beating.
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Our next-door neighbor's backyard is covered with limbs, some of them from our trees. Ivan tore the tops out of many of the live oak trees on our 20-acre block.
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I took some "before" pictures of our neighbor's mobile home and yard in case she needed them for insurance purposes.
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This is what her backyard looked like after Ivan.
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Same neighbor, different "before" view.
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The "after" view. Our neighbor said she really didn't expect to have a place to come home to after the storm, but damage to her mobile home was miminal. The yard, however, was a big mess of downed limbs and trees.
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Another "before" view.
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Another "after" view.
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This nicely wooded property adjoins our property on the back. Although these woods used to be owned by my parents and would have been kept in our family as my inheritance, unfortunately after my mother's death, my dad disinherited me and sold all his land (approximately four of the five acres). How I used to enjoy walking through these woods on its many paths that wound through the trees. I grew up on these five acres, but now the only part we have left is the scant one acre that we own.
I had always loved having these trees surrounding our property because they acted as an effective windbreak during storms, not to mention giving shade and helping to keep the air cooler during our long Florida summers. There were a few other trees and limbs down here, but most of the trees weathered the storm okay.
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Another view of the woods on our north. Those on the right side of the fence adjoin our property, and those on the left side of the fence adjoin our next-door neighbor's property. Many of the trees are leaning slightly toward the west, the same way the trees did after our area was hit by Hurricane Frederick in 1979. For years after Frederick, one could see that many of the trees that survived throughout several Panhandle counties had a decided tilt toward the west. It's going to be that way all over again.
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This is the same area as the two pictures above and Ivan didn't do this. Two weeks after the storm, the owner brought in heavy equipment and cut down nearly every last one of the trees, most of which were not damaged at all.
In our area, there is a tree protection ordinance and permits are needed in order to cut mature trees, but there is an amnesty on that ordinance just now due to Ivan. Too bad for this piece of property. I cannot put into words how much I hate to see the unnecessary loss of this small pocket of woodland habitat that adjoins our property. Not only does it look trashed, but there are no trees left on it to serve as a windbreak in any future storms for our own crippled property or any other property adjoining it.
Regarding the importance of urban forests, the Florida Urban Forestry Council states: "The urban forest is, in essence, 'the forest where we live.' Trees are an important part of every urban landscape. They shade our streets, cool our homes, provide privacy to our yards, reduce glare, trap air-borne pollutants, and generally make Florida's communities more beautiful, pleasant and healthful places in which to live. In recent years, the urban forest is more frequently looked upon as an urban ecosystem and part of a city's green infrastructure."
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A great deal of our "urban forest" ended up on the ground, but it's mostly the tops of trees. Oak tree debris lines both sides of the street that runs in front of our house. Although many structures in our area had trees fall on them, in many other cases the trees actually served as a bit of protection from the high winds.
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Out of the way. Truck coming through.
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These people came from Virginia under contract by FEMA to help with getting our area cleaned up from the storm damage.
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Having to detour around tree cutters and other workers becomes commonplace. We're happy to have all these workers here trying to help get things back to normal.
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One of our neighbors waves as I snap her picture while I was out driving on errands. She and her husband are still cleaning up two weeks after Ivan passed through. Their badly damaged utility shed and carport will need rebuilding.
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Six weeks after Ivan, people on our block are still putting out massive amounts of debris for collection. Some people are having problems with trash pickup, but at least on our street, the trucks keep on collecting regularly.
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Posted 4 October 2004
2 pictures added 29 October 2004