Camper basically chopped in half by tree

During slight winds or benign blustery weather it is a good time to inspect your trees. You have a hazardous tree is if you see the ground moving with the tree. Means the tree won't stand for long in a stronger wind storm and is loosing anchor to the ground. The bit about too much moisture means when the grond is so saturated it becomes loose ground.

A good tree will bend with the wind and not be moving the ground, has deeper root system.

A tree that is top heavy, grown too rangey as they call it, can break at the main trunk and fall as in an ice storm that builds up too much weight. So if you see a tree with too much bending swinging with a lot of upper story it's time to remove that one also.

3 tons wrote:

mbloof wrote:
Love it! The news station called it a "trailer"!! hahahahahaha

Kinda like everything else they present to be a fact - lol…May the once reputable art of Journalism now R.I.P.

3 tons

Journalism can still be found. But when a network is established on the principle "Profit is more important than truth" and can become the major source of information for a large percentage of population can we really complain when minor details are wrong in the rush to be out with a story.

mbloof wrote:
Love it! The news station called it a "trailer"!! hahahahahaha

Kinda like everything else they present to be a fact - lol…May the once reputable art of Journalism now R.I.P.

3 tons

I have been in a campground several times and had to leave out because of it flooding. Often at a depth of 10-20 feet above the camp lot. They have a good monitoring and warning system in place.

SDcampowneroperator wrote:
From the ( my past) campowners perspective, case law and acts of God are to be considered. The act of God argument prevails when the guest chose the site, case law gets involved when it can be demonstrated that the property operator did not address a possible natural hazard.
The question facing operators is what is a possible hazard?
A root exposed by last weeks rainstorm, could be a tripping hazard, or could it be more, a weakening of the root system that may cause the tree to fall.
Case law supports the landowner.
Noone can call in an expert engineer or silviculturalist to determine if and when a tree may fall, or which way.

In the broad opinion of the law, as I ve seen it applied to our interest, It also applies to that same. interest for freedom and choice of lodging or location .

The guest chose the site, the weather was unknown, the risks accepted.
given these factors, the camp responsibity is moot,

You sound like the life of the party…and a walking talking lawsuit waiting to happen!
How did your brain go from “Wow hope they’re ok” , immediately to “how can this be my family’s responsibility who “own” that tree?
That’s just sad….

Love it! The news station called it a "trailer"!! hahahahahaha

Well ... the moral of the story is to have each and every tree inspected by "Morgan tree service" and only Morgan tree service

I'm glad they are ok.

From the ( my past) campowners perspective, case law and acts of God are to be considered. The act of God argument prevails when the guest chose the site, case law gets involved when it can be demonstrated that the property operator did not address a possible natural hazard.
The question facing operators is what is a possible hazard?
A root exposed by last weeks rainstorm, could be a tripping hazard, or could it be more, a weakening of the root system that may cause the tree to fall.
Case law supports the landowner.
Noone can call in an expert engineer or silviculturalist to determine if and when a tree may fall, or which way.

In the broad opinion of the law, as I ve seen it applied to our interest, It also applies to that same. interest for freedom and choice of lodging or location .

The guest chose the site, the weather was unknown, the risks accepted.
given these factors, the camp responsibity is moot,

Lucky campers.