Off Topic Pioneer Cabin Tree in California felled by storms

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38561877


Pioneer Cabin Tree in California felled by storms

• 35 minutes ago
  
• From the section US & Canada

Share

please log in to view this image

Image copyrightCALAVERAS BIG TREES STATE PARK
Image captionThe giant sequoia, which was carved into a living tunnel over a century ago, has fallen
Storms in California have toppled one of America's most famous trees - the Pioneer Cabin Tree.

The giant sequoia was known for having a hole cut through its trunk - big enough for a car to drive through.

The tree, estimated to be more than one thousand years old, was felled by the strongest storm to have hit the area in more than a decade.

California and Nevada have been hit by unusually high rainfall levels, leading to flooding and falling trees.

The tallest living thing on the planet

please log in to view this image

Image copyrightFACEBOOK
The Calaveras Big Trees Association first reported that the drive-through Pioneer Cabin Tree - carved 137 years ago - was no more.

The storm was "just too much for it", the group wrote in a Facebook post that has drawn nearly 2,000 comments.

"Many memories were created under this tree," one read. "They will remain good memories."

Others pointed out that the tree might have survived for longer if a tunnel had not been carved into it.

"You can't cut a hole in a tree like this and expect it to live," said one comment.

"This hole always bothered me so much. Why not just drive around it?"

Park volunteer Jim Allday says the sequoia, also known as the Tunnel Tree, shattered as it hit the ground.

"We lost an old friend today," he wrote in a social media post.

Giant sequoia are closely related to the redwood tree, and are considered the tallest tree species on earth, reaching 250ft (76 metres).

They only grow in the groves of California's Sierra Nevada mountain range.

please log in to view this image

Image copyrightNEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
Image captionA 1899 stereograph shows the Pioneer Cabin tree
The tree fell as parts of California and Nevada were drenched by a seasonal weather system known as the Pineapple Express.

Not to be confused with the Seth Rogen movie of the same name, the Pineapple Express is an "atmospheric river" that extends across the Pacific from Hawaii to the US West Coast, meteorologists say.

"This is a serious flood situation," the National Weather Service said in a special flood statement late Sunday night after the Russian River in California and the Truckee River in Nevada burst their banks.

Hundreds of people have been forced to flee their homes in Northern California and Nevada as water levels rise, and avalanches and mudslides close roads.

 

Just a shame it didn't fall on the muppets that cut the hole in it

 

must be a quiet day

 

time to branch out into a new topic though

 

I'll leaf through my notes for one.

 

There was a longer article, this one looks like the truncated version.

 

Perhaps someone should bark about it.

 

I saw nothing, the armless tree feller said when questioned by investigators

 

I feel very wooden about your jokes. I didn't know this would become the new joke thread

 

Leaf it out 9's...

 

did special branch investigate who the hole cutters were

 

This thread has the makings of a splinter group.

 

I'm just another poor sap that's been drawn in.

 

I'm logging out.

 

I don't mean to give you all stick, but you're going to have to keep coming up with more

 

I'm rooted in my chair at the thought of that.

 

I think the people who did this were the hole in the treel gang!

 

Or the were from Swan Vesta's.