/ 6 June 2006

Gale topples thousands of trees in Slovakia

Forest managers were assessing the damage on Tuesday caused by a gale that flattened at least 7 000 trees in Slovakia's High Tatras National Park. Park spokesperson Marian Sturcel said the toll from wind gusts was the highest since a freak windstorm in November 2004 toppled 120km² of conifer trees in the region.

Forest managers were assessing the damage on Tuesday caused by a gale that flattened at least 7 000 trees in Slovakia’s High Tatras National Park.

Park spokesperson Marian Sturcel said the toll from wind gusts was the highest since a freak windstorm in November 2004 toppled 120km² of conifer trees in the region.

Rugged terrain and bad weather in the area affected by last Friday’s storm, around the Strbske Pleso resort, was hindering efforts to obtain a complete damage report.

The catastrophic storm two years ago devastated the park in northern Slovakia, which includes a small but dramatic range of Alps-like mountains, and was partly blamed on the area’s monoculture of spruce trees.

Sturcel said the recent and 2004 incidents led to a project to protect mountain forests from high winds by planting a wider variety of tree species. — Sapa-dpa