Blistering heat, no rain in sight, stores running out of ice, restaurants closing and all of it painted on the backdrop of a pandemic.
If you’re asking yourself what else can go wrong this summer, don’t look up.
The hot and dry weather now has bits — in some cases, big bits — of trees falling from on high.
Around the region this week there have been a number of reports of Garry oaks losing massive limbs due to the extreme heat.
“We absolutely see that every year, usually in July, when Garry oaks have sudden limb failure due to the heat — they just dry out and crack,” said Steve Taylor, president of Capital Tree Service.
Taylor, who has been in the business for 17 years, said it happens every summer, especially after long stretches of dry heat.
There is often no predicting which branches will drop, as there are seldom any telltale signs of an imminent crack, he said.
“They can be a perfectly healthy tree and it will still crack off,” he said, noting the weight of the dense oak wood can be too much for a limb that is compromised.
That seemed to be the case in the 1900-block of Watson Street Monday when a massive limb crashed onto a driveway and a neighbouring home’s front yard.
“It was very scary, very disconcerting,” said Anissa Paulsen, whose front yard is home to the tree in question.
Paulsen said there were no signs of the tree being compromised and it had been checked just over a year ago.
She is now left with an asymmetrical tree that looks to be weighted toward the home.
Saanich has checked the site, and told Paulsen it will send out a risk-assessment team.
Taylor had one of his crews in Rockland on Monday dealing with the same kind of thing.
“[Garry oaks] are heavier — it’s a heavy dense wood. They crack and it can be catastrophic failure, essentially,” he said.
Taylor recommends watering the roots of all trees, especially Garry oaks, adding pruning can reduce the weight on a long, heavy limb to help avoid cracks.
The heat has also chewed up a bit of concrete and paving around the region, with crews in both Saanich and Victoria monitoring the situation. Both municipalities reported nothing serious as yet.
According to the City of Victoria, heavy vehicles can push and squeeze paved roads in extreme heat, causing them to deform.
aduffy@timescolonist
