In Central Texas, an urban tree canopy bends to the ice

Joe Rendon, a worker with Medxcel, cuts off a broken tree limb near Ascension Seton Medical Center on Thursday after an ice storm caused power outages across Austin. (Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune)

AUSTIN — All day and all night after the ice storm struck, Austin residents listened for the cracks, splinters and crashes. Each crack of a falling limb could shut the power off — if their home hadn’t gone dark already.

“It’s a really, really thick layer of ice,” said Jonathan Motsinger, the Central Texas operations department head for Texas A&M Forest Service. “Trees can only support weight to a certain extent, and then they fail.”