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November/December 2017
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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
HARVEY SWAMPS HOUSTON, HAMMERS TEXAS R/C OFFICES
Rainfall flooded Houston after Hurricane Harvey delivered
its historic deluge of 60 inches in a matter of days.
The consequences of the storm's epic rainfall totals have
yet to be determined for the trees that it submerged.
Jack Swayze, assistant district manager, South Houston
R/C office, said the trees in the Houston area appear to have
weathered the floodwaters fairly well. He acknowledged
there may be as-of-yet unforeseen long-term effects, but
the city's homes and buildings sustained the bulk of the
damage from the flooding.
"Cleanup will take years," Swayze said.
But it was southwest of Houston, where the hurricane's
winds reached a sustained 130 mph, that the storm dealt
a disastrous blow to the communities when the storm's
eye made landfall.
Chuck Shouse, district manager, East San Antonio R/C
office, said the hurricane stripped trees of all their leaves
in some locations.
"It's the middle of the summer and you go into a place
Above: Water rises fast in the Bayou River in downtown Houston in
the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which inundated Texas with a historic
60 inches of rainfall over a few days in August. Mature trees were
submerged up to their canopies in some places.
like that, and there isn't a single leaf on any tree. That
was alarming to me," Shouse said.
The winds also destroyed entire buildings, razing
businesses and homes. Shouse said the hardest hit
areas were Rockport, Texas, and Victoria, Texas, not far
from the Gulf coast. Tree damage included wholly uprooted
oaks and countless broken limbs scattered throughout
the communities.
Shouse said one positive aspect he witnessed was the
volunteers. The popular H-E-B Texas Grocery has a store
in Victoria, Texas, and they enlisted the help of volunteers
– and a two-man crew from Shouse – to clear storm damage
from their employees' homes.
"We were with them for two weeks," he said. "That was
something to see, and I thought it was really good of them
to do for their employees."
MY DAVEY
