The old cypress did not withstand Eunice

The cypress on Elswoutlaan in Overveen had almost weathered storm Eunice. But when the wind shifted around midnight on Friday, the end came. The tree, a conifer about 12 meters high, flipped over the fence and onto the road.

“There is a tree over the road at Slewe,” the municipality had been told, according to Françoise Slewe. The municipality was quick to clear the road again. But a large part of the tree also remained.

On Saturday morning, Françoise, her husband Rob and daughter Sam, are busy salvaging the remains of the tree. Françoise with a broom that is too soft, Sam with a handsaw, Rob uses the chainsaw.

“That tree was already here when the Borski family still lived here,” says Rob Slewe, resident of the estate. “All the trees here are so old.” The Borski family, of which the widow Johanna Borski (1764-1846) was the most famous, once also owned the nearby Elswout estate, which is now open to the public.

Full in the sheet

The cypress, with dark brown, round cones, stood full in the leaf like an evergreen conifer. Maybe that made him vulnerable. But according to Rob Slewe, there was nothing to indicate that this particular tree would fail. “It was a very thick one, a very beautiful one.” A hundred years old, he estimates.

Slewe puts on his red Ajax cap, puts on safety glasses and takes out his chainsaw. “You look like a hooligan,” says his daughter. “You see, now it won’t work,” says Rob as he tries to start the chainsaw. After a few tugs on the rope, it works. He saws off another piece of the tree hanging over the fence, cut to size for the fireplace. “We live in a national monument, with single glazing. If we have east wind, you must have a scarf. We do need a fireplace.” “You can also make a stool from a piece of the trunk,” suggests Sam.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of trees throughout the Netherlands must have been handled by Eunice. Local media speak of dozens of trees blown down in their regions.

It is not known exactly how many there are. “We do not count the number of fallen trees, we may make an estimate on Monday,” said spokesman Joke Bijl of Staatsbosbeheer. The first importance is to clear paths and take inventory of the damage. But a forester reported that at least five hundred Norway spruces have been killed in the Noordoostpolder. In Brabant, Zeeland and the west, the damage to the trees appears to be not too bad.

That is also the picture in the Elswout estate, says forester Rien de Vries. “Some branches have been blown out, some roof tiles from the gatehouse, no immense damage. Of course, something has already happened during the previous storm.”

And on Elswout, trees along the path are examined by an external company. This determines whether there is a risk of branch breakage or blowing over. “They examine that by sight, and tap the trunk with a hammer or to hear whether it is hollow,” says De Vries. At the beginning of March, a number of trees will be cut down, because they are not considered safe enough. It’s not going to be a hit, he says. And trees that are not along the path can safely be blown over or broken. That brings new life.

Monumental status

Rob Slewe does not preemptively cut down trees on his property. “When we have guests and it’s windy, we say: drive quickly along the driveway. Because there are about twenty trees there and sometimes something falls down.”

The blown-down cypress may well have monumental status, says Slewe. “In itself, everything on the estate falls under the Monuments Act. Officially you have to replant something like that, but nobody does that. Something will naturally grow again.”

But he is a bit concerned about the old trees on his estate. “With every storm I think: as long as they fall in the right direction. There are certainly a few that I hope will outlive me. But that is the question. Because it is really old wood.”