Were those trees uprooted by Cyclone Michaung standing on safe ground?

While the gusty winds of Michaung were attacking these trees, the fatal blow seems to have come from under the earth. A look at why Chennai lost many native trees in the recent cyclone

At the junction of Besant Nagar Second Avenue-Annai Velankanni Road, an Indian ash tree was uprooted by Michaung. This tree had company, a cousin (another Indian ash tree) was lying diagonally opposite on Besant Nagar Seventh Avenue, having also buckled under the fiendish power of the cyclonic winds.

A habitue of this patch reckons that both trees should be fifty years old, having been planted as hedge trees. The Indian ash tree has a striking presence in Besant Nagar. As these trees were lying around their former home at least until December 6, there was a sneaking hope they would be slotted back into the earth that gave them up. To the superficial eye, the Indian ash tree at the junction of Besant Nagar Second Avenue-Annai Velankanni Road seemed particularly suited for such an exercise. Peering harder into the circumstances that could have aided Michaung in causing the tree’s fall, that idea seemed preposterous. This tree (and the other one too) was likely living in an “unhappy home”, being cramped for space, and suffering frequent road-digging in silence.

Looking at the upended roots of the tree at the junction, and the post that lay slumped alongside, this Indian ash tree did not have much of a breathing space when it was alive.

It was not departing a home with sadness, but exiting a prison.

Indian ash tree is a native species and this episode just underlines that being a native tree does not ensure safety by itself. It also matters where you stand. It improves a tree’s longevity if it is planted in a space that would not be subject to frequent disturbance by way of infrastructural activities.

On Third Cross Street in Raja Annamalaipuram, Michaung removed a massive tree off the landscape. On December 7, parts of the tree remained on the road, uncleared. From the leaves, one could see the tree belonged to the ficus family and was a native variety. The upturned roots provided a glimpse of the conditions in which the tree had lived. The lowest part of the tree appeared as though it had been removed from a mould and it corresponded to a geometric shape, something approaching a square. From this picture, it is clear it had been standing in restricted space. Is this dead tree telling a tale about the other trees in these parts, standing tall to appearance but restricted in a deeply debilitating manner?