Giant, short trees; leafy and not so leafy; old, young; autochthonous, native. The windstorm that hit the City of Buenos Aires this Sunday morning caused the fall of more than 600 specimens and thousands of branches, small and large, scattered throughout squares, parks, sidewalks and streets.
As of Monday, the Buenos Aires government had received 666 reports of falls and breakages caused by trees and branches. And 5,000 reports of downed, cut or hanging cables, broken canopies or signs, among other situations. The storm hit the entire city, although there were neighborhoods such as Palermo, Colegiales, Belgrano or Villa Urquiza where the damage was greater.
On Monday, squares and parks with bars remained closed. The City reported that they will be enabled as the damage is surveyed and it is determined that there are no hanging branches that could be dangerous. The same as the streets that remained cut off with fallen branches. About 800 people were reported to be working to free the branches and reopen spaces once it was determined that there were no risks.
The Storm
As the hours went by, after the storm, very dissimilar postcards were seen on the Buenos Aires trees. Small trees less than two meters tall, whipped by the winds, bent without resistance, almost touching the sidewalk with the branches. Almost without losing leaves, they resisted thanks to their flexibility.
And the giant, old groves, famous because they characterize many squares and neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, went through this windstorm in a very different way.
Trees downed across the City from the early Sunday morning storm. Photo: Luciano Thieberger
This is the case of the tree tunnel on Melián Avenue, in Belgrano; It connects Villa Urquiza with Belgrano R and is an attraction for the grove of huge trees that make up a green roof along 10 blocks, between Olazábal and La Pampa. Minefield, this is how Clarín reflected the passage of the winds through this area of the city.
According to the Buenos Aires government, the gusts of wind that arose from 3:30 a.m. reached 130 km/h at San Fernando airport, 124 km/h at El Palomar; 111 km/h in Morón; 100 km/h in Villa Ortúzar and 97 km/h in Aeroparque.
Unlike Melián, there are two tunnels that resisted the winds better, such as Pedro Goyena (in Caballito) and Plaza San Martín (in Retiro). They usually lose secondary branches (the smaller ones), but there were no major landslides this Sunday morning.
According to the census, there are 430,000 trees of different species registered in the city. And the wind seems to have made no difference when it came to hitting them and causing the branches to fall.
In the midst of this dramatic storm, and while social media users shared photos and videos, the NGO "Stop mutilating our trees" spread a message: "No to pruning."
María Angélica Di Giacomo, from Basta, explained to Clarín: "What we have learned in all these years is that poorly done, unprofessional pruning without a preservation plan, decreases the life of the specimens and takes away the benefits provided by leafy foliage."
"Pruning has a negative influence because, if done poorly, it produces wounds in the tree that then cause diseases. For example, they rot inside or hollow out. And on the other hand, pruning makes them more vulnerable to wind. The energy of the winds dissipates first on the leaves, then on the secondary branches (the smallest), on the primary branches (the largest) and finally on the trunk. A tree without foliage is vulnerable to winds," he explained.
"Like the signage that is all over the city, like the Floralis Generica, the trees didn't resist either. Of course, these winds were unusual, but meteorologists and environmental specialists warn that they will be common. Just as we will have to rethink how posters are reinforced, we will have to understand that the worst thing we can do is continue with mutilation," added Di Giácomo (on IG @bastademutilar).
In Buenos Aires, tree maintenance tasks are free of charge and carried out only by the government. Although there is a calendar of prunings, by species, punctual pruning is also carried out at the request of neighbors. In addition, regular inspections are carried out to determine the condition of the trees. Especially those older species that can represent a danger because they suffer phenomena that are not visible to the naked eye.
Until a few weeks ago, the pruning and maintenance of the trees depended on the area of Citizen Attention and Community Management; it has now passed into the hands of the Ministry of Public Space and Urban Hygiene. The Buenos Aires government clarifies that many prunings are related to the elimination of interferences, such as lighting clearances and security cameras, road signs, house fronts, balconies, terraces. Since 2018 there has been a "Strategic Pruning Plan". And complaints from neighbors are also addressed.
Despite this strategic plan, in February 2021, the Buenos Aires Justice ordered the City to suspend all types of tree felling and pruning activity until a computer system is implemented that guarantees transparency and the protection of public trees.
The ruling ordered that a scheme of conservation tasks be executed; and demanded that pruning not be the only and exclusive management tool.
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