Several certified trees damaged at UM Lambuth
JACKSON, Tenn. — The University of Memphis Lambuth is cleaning up after the loss of several trees on campus.
Dr. Niles Reddick, the dean of the campus, says while many trees around the campus were either damaged or blown over, a large area was spared.
“Trees inside the quad were perfectly fine. I mean they dropped some limbs. It was the trees on outside of the perimeter, or the quad, that were damaged,” Reddick said.
Trees that were not so lucky now lay across the quad on gardens or in piles.
Reddick says students were on campus at the time of the storm, and thankfully, no one or their property was hurt.
But he says there was a close call for two students’ cars.
“I could not believe that those two cars were not crushed. This big tree right here that you see chopped up over there, that could have killed someone. Or crushed a car,” Reddick said. “I haven’t seen them today. I don’t know if they are traumatized. I would have been.”
Lambuth is a certified Level 2 Arboretum, meaning the campus is recognized for its variety of trees, making the loss so much worse.
The University of Memphis Lambuth
“We got to get this place cleaned up. It’s a mess. It’s just a mess. I’ve never seen anything like it. It just broke my heart last night when I came out here and saw all those trees gone. It’s one of the prettiest things about the campus, is you know the trees,” Reddick said.
He says next comes cleanup, and making the campus even more impressive for future generations of students.
“What we could is that we can replenish the ones that fell that were part of the arboretum with the same species, and then the others ones that we lost we can replenish, if they weren’t part of the arboretum, with a new species so that we are increasing our number of species for the arboretum,” Reddick said. “You may not notice it now, but 20 years from now someone will say, ‘This is cool, you know.'”
Apart from the trees, Reddick says Lambuth came out almost unscathed.
“We’ve done an assessment of the campus,” he said. “We lost some slate roof tiles and there is some slight to the roofs.”
He says there was also some damage to fences.
“We’re very fortunate,” Reddick said.
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