It was a classic battle of Mother Nature vs. Mother Earth.
When last week's icy winter storm pummeled through the Triangle, it left in its wake a ravaged Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Officials estimate that the clean-up in the gardens after the worst storm damage in its history could take as many as five or six weeks.
"It's worse than Hurricane Fran. It's the worst ice storm anyone here has ever experienced," said Greg Nace, associate director of horticulture for the gardens. "We've seen damage in the gardens before, but nothing on this scale."
About a half dozen trees were downed under the weight of more than an inch of ice, including a towering oak on the south lawn. Hundreds of other branches also fell.
"It is still going to be a dangerous situation for probably a good four or five weeks," he said. "We prefer people not walk through the gardens right now."
Nace said one of the grounds staff's first priorities will be to try to open a path between Central Campus and Flowers Drive.
The gardens have been closed since Thursday as concerns mounted about the many "widow makers"--loose branches hanging in trees that could fall to the ground at any moment. Nace noted that the lack of strong wind has helped the situation, but that, "things are still coming down."
The University will hire a professional tree crew to climb trees and cut out the widow makers. Those professionals will accompany a group of 10 regular grounds staff, who will start sweeping through the gardens today.
"Oak trees were especially hit because they still had the leaves on the trees and they collected a lot more weight than they could handle," Nace said.
He added that the tops of pine trees also suffered greatly, and because pines can't regenerate, crews will need to cut down about 50 and perform major tree surgery on many others.
Nace explained that the clean-up process will be very slow.
"A lot of the trees are under tension because of the ice, so cutting the branches and working with chainsaws is very dangerous," he said.
Crews will place the collected debris into a staging area, where some will be chipped and others will be hauled out by contractors.
"We can't expect to put it at the side of the road, and have the city pick it up," Nace joked.
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