Storm destroys namesake trees at Oakwood Park

LORAIN — Oakwood Park may lose more of its namesake trees following Tuesday's storm. High winds that swept through south Lorain split, uprooted or damaged more than 100 trees, according to Public Properties Manager Lori Garcia. Of those, the wind felled more than 20 and damaged dozens of others that will need to be removed. Garcia estimated there will be about 119 fewer trees in the 64-acre park after the cleanup. Prior to the storm, Oakwood Park had about 250 to 300 trees. "If you see the number of trees that came down, quite a few of them are completely hollow inside," Safety/Service Director Rey Carrion said. Seven years ago, a survey of the park's towering oak trees by an Ohio Department of Natural Resources arborist determined 109 of the space's 300 trees were "high risk" and needed to be removed. At the time, those trees were close to 100 years old, and many were identified as diseased. In late 2016, the city faced controversy for removing about 60 trees in the park's northeast corner and planning to cut down more than 200 others for proposed renovations. Those renovations were scaled back, and no additional trees were removed. "There were other trees that were marked that they were determined to be deficient, weak or in a position that they would not sustain high winds and I don't believe that the remaining of those trees were removed," Carrion said. He said the city plans to evaluate the remaining trees in the city's major parks — including Oakwood and Central parks — to make sure they are healthy and rank which are the highest to lowest risks. Oakwood Park remains closed through next week while crews clear the fallen trees, many along East 36th Street, and Oakwood Pool shuttered for the season just ahead of its planned Aug. 11 closure. The cost to clear the damaged trees was not available on Friday, as it will need to go to bid. Carrion said the city is able to do some work in-house, but not for the scale of damage at Oakwood Park. Once the city fully recovers from the power outages and other damage caused by the storm, officials plan to look at a multiyear plan to replant trees in Oakwood Park, Carrion said. "That is really the name, it bears the name of the trees, the oak trees we had in the park and the overabundance of trees that we had in the park," Carrion said. Carrion said crews have been working around the clock to clear streets and pick up any tree limbs or debris placed on the curb lawns, and they will continue to collect them through next week. City crews mirrored those from FirstEnergy and neighboring states' power companies working to get power restored in the city, Carrion said. City Hall was shuttered for about a day, and Carrion watched crews from Penn Power, a FirstEnergy subsidiary serving western Pennsylvania, work until about 2 a.m. Thursday to get power back on. He expected to scale back the city workers' overtime response early next week, and he planned to submit for reimbursements through the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the overtime and equipment costs. Tuesday's storm, which spawned an F-1 tornado that cut through Avon Lake, Bay Village and Rocky River, and another between Brook Park and Bedford, left more than 100,000 Ohio Edison customers without power, including thousands in Lorain County, according to the National Weather Service and FirstEnergy. As of Friday evening, the bulk of those in Lorain had their power restored, while about 6,100 homes and businesses in Avon and Avon Lake still were without power. Avon Lake offered charging stations for residents' mobile devices from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 12-15 at Avon Lake Presbyterian Church, 32340 Electric Blvd., and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at Good Neighbor Thrift Store, 158 Lear Road. Food trucks are also available at the city's Safety Center, 32855 Walker Road from 6-8 p.m. today and 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday and Monday. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued a proclamation for assistance to those affected by the severe weather. In the proclamation, DeWine ordered and authorized state departments and agencies to use their personnel and resources to help with the recovery effort. According to a news release announcing the proclamation, the Ohio Emergency Management Agency has been monitoring the areas affected and coordinating its response with local agencies' requests for help. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.