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I think it was a pin oak that fell here and crushed this fence. I asked a park worker, and he said the tree crew was in and out in two hours, gettingthis oak and the giant elm pictured below, as well as the large hanging elm branch at 9th Street and Avenue B, and the locust at the central entrance on 7th street.
The elm in the central grove was hollow.
An oak leaf cluster. In the immediate aftermath of Irene passing through my East Village neighborhood, I seized the opportunity to gather samples of leaves from fallen branches, getting them before the sanitation and parks department bagged them up for mulch or whatever. I’m doing a tree identification project and close up details of the leaves attached to the branches, and their arrangements are critical to species identification. And most of the samples come from branches high-up and into the wind, normally inaccessible to my camera. Unfortunately, I could have used an intern or two to take note of location and individually bag the samples, but no, I stuffed them into a single bag and will have to go all forensic to match them back to their tree. Full resolution
London Planetrees are common in New York and I saw many large planetree branches fallen. Their distinctive mottled bark makes them easy to identify. They provide good shade and their branches form dramatic shapes. But from below, their leaves always look shabby and unhealthy. It must be their heavy venation, on the reverse of the leaves, and their ragged outline that gives that effect. Up-close they are quite beautiful and interesting. Planetrees are known for being able to deal well with soot and in general the stress of city life.
Full Resolution
I was sad to see that one of the grand old Tompkins Square Park elms is gone. It was one of the two elms in the central grove. Elms are known for their wide sprawling limbs. They are endangered by Dutch Elm disease. Tompkins Square park is known for its large and beautiful elms.
Tompkins Square Park was still closed this morning. From what I can observe from the perimeter, the park had significant tree damage from Irene. A large oak near the park offices fell over. Another large tree, I’m not positive but I think it is another oak, the one that was in the middle of the path on the west side of the central grove, has fallen. I have heard that there was some damage to the Hare Krishna Elm but it is still standing. Another elm, near 9th Street and Avenue B, lost a limb. A medium sized locust fell near the center entrance on 7th Street. I also noticed that a few small trees also fell over.
Update: The park opened at noon. Sadly, the large tree in the center of the park that fell was one of the magnificent elms. But I’m glad to report that there was no damage to the Hare Krishna Elm. Photos coming soon.
Washington Square Park was open. There was minimal damage to the trees from Irene here. One large branch of a London Planetree came down. Elms and Planetrees seem the most likely to lose large branches. Ginkos dropped a lot of small branches.
The top of an old oak near the park offices has fallen.
A grand old elm near Avenue B has lost a large branch.
A large old tree in the center of the park is down. You can see it from Avenue A. It is too far away for me to tell what kind of tree it is.
A locust tree near the central 7th Street entrance is down.
I tried calling 911 to get someone to put some caution tape around this tree, it is in imminent danger of falling, and people are clustered all around it taking photos of the other tree fallen behind it. 911 put me off to 311 and 311 is totally overwhelmed and not answering. I also told my story to a cop. Here’s hoping no one gets hurt.
The ground where this tree was rooted was totally swampy, no wonder it fell over.
The water in the East River was high enough to float all the trash usually resting on the rocks here.
At Houston Street. The FDR is flooded at Houston Street as well.
This was as bad as Irene got in my neighborhood, not much. People out early this morning taking a stroll.
With the subway, busses, trains and planes shut down it is extraordinarily quiet this Saturday in the East Village and Lower East Side.
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