“We saw widespread damage, the heaviest damage from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument grounds and then around the Tidal Basin,” said National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst , who walked around the area after the bad weather moved out.
“Damage seemed to be especially severe in East Potomac Park down to Hains Point.”
Litterst said he saw at least a few cherry trees that were either damaged or knocked over, although there probably won’t be a full assessment until sometime Friday.
WTOP’s Dave Dildine photographed a massive live oak that had toppled near the Jefferson Memorial, and a fallen weeping willow tree in West Potomac Park.
On Wednesday, the Park Service raised a mulberry tree near the Washington Monument that fell over in soggy ground over Mother’s Day weekend.
Unfortunately, Thursday’s weather caused new troubles for the tree.
“The force of the storm actually moved that tree off of its temporary block and brace (and) damaged a couple of other limbs,” Litterst said.
Thankfully, it looks to be only a setback for the very old mulberry tree.
“The initial assessment by our arborist and our contractor working on it think that they’ll still be able to go forward with the restoration of the tree,” said Litterst.
Expect storm cleanup work that began Thursday afternoon on and around the National Mall to continue Friday morning.
