dimanche 25 janvier 2009

Storm damage

The storm hit Saturday morning and it soon became clear that the enormous lime tree which dominates the house wasn't going to make it. 

La tempête a cassé le Samedi matin et très tôt j'ai realisé que le tilleul qui domine chez moi tombera.
The enormous lime tree on the right of the photo (last summer).
La grande tierle (été dernière) à droite.

As successive gusts hit the tree the ground around it rose and fell as the roots lifted.  It's an enormous tree and thought of it being toppled was scary.  Thank God the wind was from the west - from the south and it would have destroyed the house, from the north and it would have blocked the road and destroyed the garage, my car and the tractor.  As it was it was clearly going to fall onto the workshop and then take the electricity cables down. Finally a big gust took it! My strong little workshop sustained minor damage as the tree glanced off it.  Then down came the overhead lines - for a moment it looked like the high voltage cables were going to come down too (the ones with out insulation)  as the lines feeding the house are eventually attached to the same poles, but somehow the cable fixings broke just before the pole, but only just - I've never seen an electricity pole bend so much and not snap!  Fortunately, the electricity supply had gone off long before (it only came back on this evening 36 hours later).  The bundle of cables ended up caught in other trees and the telephone wires - it crosses the road at a height of about 2m, whilst the rest is on the ground in field 1. 

Plus en plus les rafales ont batti l'arbre et la terre autour du tronc est monté et subsidé comme les racines tirer.  C'etait une arbre énorme et j'ai peur de penser que elle peut tomber. Heuresment, c'etait un vent de l'Ouest - du Sud et elle tombera sur chez moi, du Nord et elle tombera sur la route et casser le garage, ma voiture et mon tracteur. Quand même, elle tombera sur m'atelier et la ligne d'éléctricité.  Enfin une grande rafale l'a tombé.  Mon atelier cousteau, a subi des petits dégats comme l'arbre est tombé, puis la ligne bas tension est tombé aussi, pour un instant je crains que la ligne haut tension tombera aussi (parce que les deux sont accrocher sur la même poteau) mais à la dernière moment la fixation casse. je n'ai jamais vu un poteau courber comme ça!  Heuresment la courant a cassé longtemps avant.  Enfin la ligne a resté accrocher sur les arbres et sur la ligne de téléfon, traversant la route à 2 metres d'hauteur, et plus loin sur la terre dans la pré.
The storm raged all day with gusts over 100mph, in the early evening all the neighbours in our little valley congregated at John and Sandrines' for New Year drinks.  The night was spent by candlelight.

La tempête a continué tout la journée avec les rafales de 150km/h, du soir touts les voisins de Quélebu et Pinsou s'ont rassemblé à chez John et Sandrine à boire un coupe de Champagne pour la Nouvelle An.  La nuit à chez moi etait sur les bougées. 
Today dawned frosty, but calm and I set to work clearing up the mess.  The tree is huge and delimbing it was a complicated 'jigsaw puzzle' as it tree threatened to unbalance and roll down onto the road with me in it.  It took most the morning before all of the boughs were on the ground.  The next problem was guessing when the huge root ball would counter-balance the weight of remaining tree and send it upright again.  I misjudged, but managed to get out of the way - it stood up very quickly!  90% of the wood is now bucked and just awaits stacking.

Le matin fait froid, mais calme et j'ai commencé de nettoyer les dégats.  Le coupage de l'arbre etait très compliqué parce que l'arbre a menacé de tombé ou roulé un peu plus avec moi dedans les branches!  Il a pris tout le matin avant toutes les bras etait sur la terre.  Puis j'ai eu besoin estimé la moment quand le poids des racines balisculera le tronc vertical encore.  Il est monté tellement vite!  90% du bois a été couper.
On the plus side I will have more sun and a better view.  Tonight it's snowing heavily again and the forecast is for more of the same for Monday and Tuesday.

Maintenant je recevrai plus de soliel et j'aurai un vue plus dégagé.  Ce soir il neige beaucoup et Méteo France dit la même Lundi et Mardi.

5 commentaires :

Cioara Andrei a dit…

Foarte interesant ce ai postat.M-am uitat pe blogul tau si imi place ce am vazut chiar e frumos si interesant.Felicitari si sigur am sa mai revin!

Anonyme a dit…

Quite an adventurous couple of days! Saw the storms in France on the news. Looked pretty bad.

Anonyme a dit…

Lucky escape - saw the storms on the news - looks like the Spanish side had the worst of it. Would have been a nightmare if that lot had hit the house.

Unknown a dit…

Close call, glad it fell with the least damage possible. Hope the power outage didn't cause too much problems.

Lee Sharp a dit…

Power cuts are a regular occurrence here. When you live in heavily forested mountains, trees are bound to fall on the power lines from to time.