After last month’s 6.5 magnitude earthquake, HSU geology professor, Bob McPherson warned students and faculty of the many dangers associated with an earthquake. One in particular stood out.
“Look out for widowmakers,” said McPherson in the Jan. 20 issue of the Lumberjack.
Widow makers are large branches which have broken off trees, but are still stuck in the canopy among other branches. It can also be applied to tops of trees which break off during earthquakes or by strong wind gusts, which are common to the area.
Last Thursday the HSU campus experienced both an earthquake and strong gusts of wind. The results were four widowmakers at three different locations and a power outage to the Campus Apartments.
At 12:20 pm, a 5.9 earthquake struck 49 miles of the coast of Eureka. No injuries were reported. It was located off shore on a different fault than last month’s quake, but the U.S. Geological Survey website says it could have been triggered by the previous one.
Though the strong winds on campus caused the broken tree limbs, no damage was reported. Bob Herriott from Plant Operations at HSU said that the widowmakers “would have caused severe damage, if [they] would have fallen on someone.”
Herriott reports that three branches (two Pine, one Redwood) and one tree top (Redwood) came crashing down. The tree top “left a pretty good dent in the lawn,” said Herriott and added that he was sure it weighed over 100 pounds. The two Pine branches fell next to Nelson Hall.
Meanwhile, the Redwood branch brought down wires leading from a transformer to the campus. The power was out for more than two hours while PG&E made repairs.
Accounting major Emily Van Gerpen lives in the Campus Apartments and was watching a DVD with a group of friends when the power went out. “My computer’s battery still had some charge left, so we watched John Stewart,” she said.
After discussions of reliance on electricity, playing the card game Uno, singing with someone playing a guitar, and putting her headlamp to good use, Van Gerpen said she was kind of bummed when the lights came back on, “My room has never been cleaner.”
Herriott said falling branches usually occur between two to three times a year and adds that people should stay away from tall Pines and Redwoods when there are strong winds.
“If there are safety lines around the tree don’t cross it,” said Herriott. “There may be a branch that hasn’t fallen.”
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