neighborhood

October 3, 2007

During the rains and flooding on Tuesday evening, a live oak tree fell across Waterbury Lane in Habersham Harbor around 9:00pm. The tree appears to have been waterlogged from the top, and lost its grip in the water-soaked soil beneath. It came up by the roots, taking landscape shrubs with it, and leaving a hole about two feet deep in the yard. A second live oak in the same yard had also begun to uproot, and was leaning precariously at about a 10-degree angle. A portion of Swimming Pen Creek behind the house may have swelled to contribute to the saturation. Public Works personnel on the scene estimated the fallen tree to be at least one hundred years old.

The owners of the tree were out of town when it fell across the street and into the driveway of John and Carolyn Ward, missing their truck by several feet. Carolyn Ward heard the noise but didn’t realize what happened. “I heard a crackling boom,” she said. “I thought my husband fell down the stairs or something. Thirty minutes later a guy’s at my door asking if I knew a tree fell in my yard.”