storm damage please cut your trees

looking at all the damage that been caused in the last couple of weeks ,a lot of it has been caused by fallen trees
trees standing besides and overhanging power lines
trees situated beside roads, falling/blocking said roads and falling on cars,
trees falling on houses,
these need to be removed or cut below a height where they can not interfere with above situations
to me this is negligence on behalf of the owners on who's property these trees stand and I am very surprised that the insurance companies would pay out under those circumstances or even provide cover
so to everyone responsible ,(owners) (town/county councils) (esb) ,can you please cut the trees before there are more lives lost,

And why not get rid of all nature and pave over the ground...

A lot of the major issues we have had over the past while has to do with ground water and flooding - all as a result of too much indiscriminate building on flood plains - with no soakage and drainage provided.

I wince every time i see trees being cut for no reason other than to suit householders.

And roofs getting blown off are dangerous too, let's ban roofs!

If there were no power lines then the trees wouldn't damage them. Get rid of them!

Hang on a second lads.

John has a valid point worth discussing.

While I would not agree with removing them, they could be cut to a particular height beside power lines and phone lines.

I wouldn't agree with cutting them in case they fell on a road - that would be cutting down way too many trees.

I don't think that roofs do that much damage to anyone, so the comparison is not appropriate.

Brendan

Dangerous trees do need to be trimmed - Sometimes to save a tree you need to take off some unhealthy branches - but if we were to trim/cut down every tree beside the powerlines - we would lose so much from our countryside.

Losing our natural environment like that will end up in an economic loss as tourists deign our country to have lost its aesthetic charm. Sometimes we have to take the chance of losing some power at times of unusual weather activity - and not just cut out all source of risk to our national grid.

There are lots of dangerous trees out there that need trimming.

A little bit of commonsense on the part of the landowner would ensure that nature isn't fully denuded of its foliage.

Brendan Burgess said:

While I would not agree with removing them, they could be cut to a particular height beside power lines and phone lines.

Click to expand...

The ESB already do this with trees on public roads.
It's common sense not to allow a tree to become unstable.

@Paddy - The problem is that common sense doesn't apply in so many cases - its easier to cut the whole tree down than to get it professionally and expertly trimmed. So to save cost and effort many trees will be arbitrarily cut down that are perfectly safe. I feel we have little respect for our natural environment and totally push it aside in favour of our built environment.

Watching the news reports of the flooding in the UK - they are only now realising the issues of paving over the natural environment and cutting out the natural soakers of moisture.

As a Kayaker I am seeing this down in Wicklow - On the Avonmore - the water drains out of the river much faster since there has been deforestation further upriver - the river is filling and emptying faster - creating flash floods and preventing the absorption of water into the water table.

Brendan Burgess said:

While I would not agree with removing them, they could be cut to a particular height beside power lines and phone lines.

I wouldn't agree with cutting them in case they fell on a road - that would be cutting down way too many trees.

Click to expand...

But that's quite sensible, and also different to what the OP is looking for. ESB Networks regularly trim trees that have the potential to interfere with power lines. If anyone has any concerns over trees locally, call them on Call 1850 372 757 and they'll call out and assess the situation.

Many of the power lines downed during the recent storms were not as a result of falling trees, aging poles and the sheer power of the peak gusts did most of the damage.

Brendan Burgess said:

I don't think that roofs do that much damage to anyone, so the comparison is not appropriate.

Click to expand...

Most injuries/deaths in the UK over the past week were due to falling building debris, only one death was related to a tree fall. There were a number of very lucky escapes over the last few days with 900sq ft of roofing being blown off a school in Lucan, or the boat house in Limerick

I shudder to think what action the county councils will now take, they will probably force landowners to cut down big mature trees. These trees are a great addition to our landscape even apart from the destruction caused during the celtic tiger years. Also with the current madness with regard to wind turbines we need to leave the trees there in order to mask some of the man made blights on the landscape.

joe sod said:

I shudder to think what action the county councils will now take, they will probably force landowners to cut down big mature trees.

Click to expand...

Why would they want to do this? And even if they did, how would they?