Oakland Damage From Hurricane Ian

A couple weeks ago Natalie went to the Oakland Preserve with Adri's friend's mom. We had been to the preserve back in August as a family. Natalie told me the preserve was destroyed from Ian. Naturally, for science, I had to go and see the destruction myself. 

The next week I took the kids to the preserve. I don't agree with Natalie that the destruction is sad. Where the canopy was destroyed the undergrowth now has a chance to grow. Now from parts of the boardwalk that were covered in canopy we can see Lake Apopka. It was shocking how much destruction there was though considering it's 15 miles northeast of us and Ian came in from our southwest. We had some damage in the preserve in Clermont and at Lake Louisa but it seemed to have hit harder here for some reason. 

Nature is destructive but this is what has created Florida's unique ecosystem. The kids were running along the boardwalk as fast as they could. I was walking slowly observing all the damage trying to learn from it. I think if I would have gone a couple months earlier I would have a better understanding of what the hurricane actually did as it appears a lot of this was hurricane damage but some of it is just seasonal changes.

Here are the pictures from August when we went to Oakland Preserve.

This is the start of the boardwalk. 

Same area back in August.

Further down the trail to where the kids play "Floor is lava".

This is where the kids play floor is lava. There's a lot more to play on since the hurricane.

This is midway down the boardwalk.

The same spot back in August.

That vine is stretched tight between the standing tree and the one that fell. I wasn't able to get off the boardwalk and see if the tree is actually touching the ground but I suspect it might not be considering how tight that vine is stretched.

This tree just split in half.

A couple months ago this area was covered in thick canopy. Now we can see Lake Apopka.

Pretty close to the same area back in August.

Can you find the gator? I might not be able to find the bottle of ketchup in the fridge but I can spot a gator at 100 yards no problem. To the right of the bird right in the middle of the picture is a gator. His face is out by the water and his body is hidden by the grass but his tail is showing.

This tree that blew over was huge. The root ball behind Zach are probably about ten feet high.

The kids looking at snake skin at the nature center.