Texas A&M Forest Service worker in white hard hat and yellow shirt uses a chainsaw to cut up fallen trees

Debris from trees littered the road. Branches, trunk shards and sometimes entire trees, roots and all, created hazards for drivers and caused damage to nearby structures and infrastructure.

Sawdust floated to the ground like allergy-laden snowflakes amid the fallen trees as Texas A&M Forest Service workers used chainsaws to cut trees into manageable sections and clear roads across Montgomery County.

The cause was Hurricane Beryl, which made final landfall as a Category 1 hurricane July 8 in Matagorda and was later downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved up into East Texas, leaving behind a path of debris. Besides the downed trees, Hurricane Beryl’s storm damage also included downed power lines, major flooding, long gas lines and crop injury. At its peak, nearly 3 million homes and businesses in the Houston area were without power.

a field of drying corn that has been broken over by wind and is laying on the ground in places
bent and broken corn stalks that were flattened by Hurricane Beryl
Corn fields were damaged by the winds of Hurricane Beryl. (Michael Miller/Texas A&M AgriLife)

Helping Texans recover

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Disaster Assessment and Recovery, DAR, unit responded as the storm moved through the state to support residents and agricultural producers. DAR agents are conducting agricultural damage assessments on farms and ranches, including crops, livestock and infrastructure, in affected counties.

The Texas A&M Forest Service and DAR unit work in partnership with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, part of The Texas A&M University System. DAR is part of The Texas A&M University System’s Keeping Texas Prepared initiative.

A man in a yellow shirt, gloves and orange chaps uses a chainsaw
A fallen tree blocks a road
A claw attached to a truck picks up tree limbs
Workers use chainsaws to chop up a fallen tree
A worker in a white hard hat and yellow shirt uses a chainsaw to cut the trunk of a tree in half as it falls to the ground
Hurricane Beryl, a Category 1 storm at final landfall, caused power outages, downed trees, flooded roads and damaged crops. (Michael Miller/Texas A&M AgriLife)
Members of a community move pieces of a fallen tree out of a residential street
A man in a white hard hat and yellow shirt uses a chainsaw to cut up a fallen tree in front of a home
A fallen tree that tore up a concrete driveway at a blue house
A fallen tree is reflected in sunglasses of a man with a white hard hat
Heavy machinery cuts up a fallen tree that is blocking a roadway while emergency workers block traffic
A man wearing green uses a chainsaw to chop up a fallen tree. Pieces of the tree are visible in the foreground
A man in a yellow shirt and white hard hat chops up a fallen tree with a chainsaw in front of a house
Texas A&M Forest Service workers traveled across Montgomery County to cut up trees that were blocking roadways. (Michael Miller/Texas A&M AgriLife)
Texas A&M Forest Service employee with white hard hat and yellow shirt uses chainsaw to cut up fallen trees while sawdust flies across the picture
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