hurricanes Archives - treesource

Thomas Fire, Ventura, CA, Los Padres NF, 2017 — Firefighters watch the approach of last fall’s Thomas Fire in Ventura, California, Los Padres National Forest. Photo: U.S. Forest Service

In a warming world, the dangers from natural disasters are changing. In a recent commentary, we identified a number of costly and deadly catastrophes that point to an increase in the risk of “cascading” events – ones that intensify the impacts of natural hazards and turn them into disasters.

Multiple hazardous events are considered cascading when they act as a series of toppling dominoes, such as flooding and landslides that occur after rain over wildfires. Cascading events may begin in small areas but can intensify and spread to influence larger areas.

This rising risk means decision-makers, urban planners and risk analysts, civil engineers like us and other stakeholders need to invest more time and effort in tracking connections between natural hazards, including hurricanes, wildfires, extreme rainfall, snowmelt, debris flow, and drought, under a changing climate. [Read more…]

*Urban Forest Strike Team Members assess and record tree damage from Hurricane Mathew in 2016. Photo Courtesy of the Southern Group State Forests Photo: SGSF*

Thousands of federal, state and private agencies have been deployed to areas that were impacted by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate. These first responders are there to help the people in the storm’s path. However, there is another group of responders that go into storm-ravaged towns to aid the trees: the Urban Forest Strike Teams (UFST).

This 10-year-old program is a nationwide collaborative effort among state forestry agencies funded and trained through the U.S. Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program. Since 2007, the Southern UFST has been activated 12 times and mobilized across the South in response to hurricanes, tornadoes, and ice storms.

The catalyst for the creation of UFST was Hurricane Katrina. Widespread tree damage prompted the International Society of Arboriculture, Davey Resource Group and USFS to deploy certified arborists into at least nine communities along the Mississippi/Louisiana Gulf Coast. [Read more…]

In a warming world, risk of ‘cascading’ natural disasters on the rise

Interagency strike teams assess hurricane damage to urban forests