The Tree that Fell on a Cyclist, and My Boat
During record breaking June temperatures, a deadly thunderstorm blew down a tree, nearly killing a cyclist that only survived because my boat was moored in the right spot.
Here in the U.K. we've been having some weather, with record breaking "hottest June day" records being smashed three days in a row, with the highest getting to 37.3C (in the shade). Whilst columnists postulated about the morality of AC or exactly what percentage of probability this was caused by the climate crisis, real people were struggling to stay alive.
Sunday, before the heatwave, I was moving my boat, with my partner Emily cycling along the towpath as I steered along the canal past Warleigh Weir. The metal was burning my hands and feet when I touched it, and inside was unbearable. There was absolutely no insulation in the ceiling, and last summer the bedroom spent a lot of time at 40C even when the outside was only 32C. This had to be remedied before the worst of this heatwave hit.
Phil Sturgeon
On Monday, In the sleepy little village of Bathampton, moored opposite the home where dad spent most of his childhood restoring boats and frolicking on the canal, my best mate Julian was helping upgrade the insulation on my canal boat. This was a huge amount of work ripping out nasty damp and mouldy wood, and throw out the horrible rock wool that was full of black mould and rusty.
We got most of it ripped out and piled up, and went for a pint at The George Inn to cool down and figure out next steps. As we sat there at ~6pm the weather suddenly changed, rapidly cooling from 29C to 21C as sun turned to rain and lightning filled the sky.
We ran back to the boat to close the hatches and I ran so quickly I forgot my bike. I went back to the pub to grab it leaving Julian on the boat, and before I could return Julian was calling me.
"Emergency, quick, come help!!"
I ran back to the boat to find a mature willow tree on top of the boat, and underneath it was a lady laying on the floor, all wrapped up in branches and bicycle. Julian had managed to climb out of the boat fighting through the crown of the tree, sawed through some branches to get to her, and already had an ambulance on the way. Legend.
I was then in first aid mode. I'll spare you most of the details from here but thankfully the boat was completely supporting the weight of the tree, with my chimney actually catching one of the two main stems and keeping it from rolling. None of the other branches were touching her, and despite the several tonnes of tree trunk floating 50 centimeters above her, she was in good spirits the entire time.
The main problem now was her saddle has snapped in the crash, and the saddle rail (the metal holding the saddle to the seatpost) had snapped and stuck itself into her thigh. This meant we could not remove her from under the tree, and when emergency services turned up this really slowed the process down. Julian got back into the boat and found some hex keys to remove the saddle rail from the seat post entirely, allowing the bike to be removed from under her without needing to use the oscillating saw that would have caused more bleeding.
We had every emergency service out short of the coast guard: paramedics, critical care responders, fire and rescue, and they got there quickly and did an amazing job in the horrendous conditions. Another passer popped a tarp over her, and my job became telling disgruntled commuters that they'd have to detour around instead of climbing over the tree that had somebody under it.
We kept the bicycle and swapped contact details with the paramedics, and can confirm that she is absolutely fine. Somebody helpfully said they thought she was dead, which is why it's always important to ignore local gossips. She's had such a quick recovery shes already been over to see Julian to get the bike back before I could even fix it up.
How's the boat?!
Surprisingly fine. There was enough weight on there that the roof dented, but a lot of the trees crown made contact first which slowed the fall some. Then, seeing as it hit the front, it was able to tip forwards in the water, enough that the bow deck was taking on water through the drainage holes for a bit.
All I had was my little Makita DUC150 pruning saw, which ended up solving a lot of problems well above its pay grade. I started taking weight off the crown, removing any smaller and medium branches to clear the stems.
Boaters started showing up, with hand saws, big chainsaws with no oil in them, little chainsaws from the back of the wardrobe, anything they could find.
Between it all we got enough working that progress was constant, and everyone who had no tools was making coffee or moving the cuttings as we threw the whole tree off the boat one piece at a time.
The whole thing took about three hours, and by the end of it I was completely delirious. The adrenaline of first aid situations will wipe you out, but throwing an entire mature tree off your boat is going to have an impact too. Thankfully a carpenter and tree surgeon took over with decision making and chainsawing for the last few major cuts. They got chocks under the main stem to stop it rolling. Got ropes around larger chunks of crown to stop it blocking the canal as it was currently passable.
After we confirmed the chocks were load bearing, the tree surgeon made the final cut to remove the trunk from the boat. The weight was compressing the roof making it concave, but as the weight came off, it suddenly popped back into shape and sent him in the air!
The only damage I had? The ceiling down in my bedroom because it was only being supported by the walls we'd taken down already, the roof had a few more scratches than it already had, and my chimney pot is totaled.
For how that could of gone, everyone was extremely lucky.
If my boat wasn't there supporting the weight of the tree, the cyclist would be dead.
If my boat was in a slightly different position of that was a hardwood tree instead of a willow, my boat could be smashed to pieces. A rental boat round the corner was hit by another falling tree and completely mangled. The Ukranian family renting it only wanted to know if they could get another boat to continue their holiday! 🤣
This extreme weather will only continue to get worse. Roads buckling. Homes catching on fire. Flash floods killing people. Heatwaves destroying crops. Young woodlands will fail.
Elena Tornberg-Lennox
Since spending years cycling around Europe with nothing but a tent to protect me from the elements, I've had a far more defensive and survivalist attitude towards the weather. It's not just a nice time to go for a swim (the rivers are full of shit) it's time to protect your family and your home.
Get foil on the windows, get solar panels up to provide shade or hang tarps and canopies over anything like a greenhouse to avoid the greenhouse effect. I'm painting my roof white to bounce the sun which might be easier on a boat than a home but you get the idea. Improving insulation helps avoid heat as well as cold, as you need to both keep the heat out and find a way to remove any heat that gets in. Once you've got solar panels there's no environmental downside to an AC unit, because it ushers any heat that snuck in back outside.
All of this is why I am so focused on doing everything I can to fight the climate crisis. People are dying and it's not going to get better unless we all step it up a gear. Support Protect Earth, sponsor a tree, 0r come volunteer at an upcoming event, so we can keep trying to put a dent in this nonsense whilst everyone else fucks around with AI and makes it all worse.
