A storm pulls spruces out of the ground along with their roots, birches usually break – photographs of a storm swept over Finland

A storm can easily bring down a tree if its roots are close to the surface. In turn, a tree suffering from rot breaks easily. The easiest way is that the wind knocks down spruces, since their roots go only shallowly into the soil.

In Central Finland in Muuramäki, a huge birch tree collapsed onto the roof of a private house. The storm “Vieno”, sweeping over Finland, tore a tree from the ground along with its roots and brought it down on a residential building.

Even a strong wind is rarely able to knock down a birch. These trees usually break. This is most often due to rot, which spoils the trunk from the inside.

– Birches rot more often than pines and spruces, so they break more often, too, – says the leading researcher of the Natural Resources Center Tapani Repo .

More often than other trees in Finland the wind is blowing ate. Usually, a storm pulls them out of the ground along with their roots, since the root system of these trees is close to the surface.

Pines and birches are less likely to cause damage to houses or cars by falling than spruce.