A 100-year-old tree came down on a Wake County woman’s home, and in September a huge limb crushed her truck, all without a single storm or strong wind gust in sight. Barbara, who lives in the neighborhood, says trees have simply been collapsing around her with no obvious explanation, and the pattern has a name that sounds almost too strange to be real: falling limb syndrome.
Barbara emailed WRAL to describe a century-old tree that fell onto her home, causing water damage but sparing the structure from major damage. In September, a huge limb dropped onto her truck in Raleigh, and she noted that the trees in her neighborhood have been falling on days with no storms or wind to explain it. She referred to the phenomenon by its two common names: falling limb syndrome, also known as sudden branch drop syndrome.
Kelly Oten, an assistant professor at NC State University’s College of Natural Resources, told the outlet that arborists are aware of the condition but cannot quite predict it. A tree can look completely fine from the outside, she said, and then randomly drop a limb. There is no single specific cause behind falling limb syndrome, though pests, bacteria and disease are among the contributing factors that can play a role, and it can strike trees that otherwise appear healthy without any warning at all.
Drought’s Grip on Wake County Roots
Drought conditions may be a concern for area trees, though their role in these incidents is uncertain. Parts of Wake County currently fall into the severe drought category, and Falls Lake’s water supply pool has dropped about 10% in the past month alone, per the same account. Statewide, more than two-thirds of North Carolina’s counties were in active drought as of this month. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality said drought conditions had spread into parts of Wake County and other central counties, while the National Weather Service said severe D2 conditions were creeping back into the northeast Piedmont and Triangle area…