By Brandy Calvert/Senior Staff Writer
MIDDLESBORO — The wind and weather on Sunday night brought down a giant — the largest Scarlet Oak tree in the nation — which stood beside of the Langub home on 24th Street in Middlesboro.
Around 20 neighborhood residents pitched in on the clean-up of the massive tree, a 100-year old Scarlet Oak which was registered as the nation’s largest tree of its kind. Kentucky Division of Forestry Rangers Lem Johnson and Brandon Howard found the tree in the Spring of 2005 and nominated it as a state champion; however, the tree turned out to be the largest in the country.
When it fell, the Scarlet Oak took with it two of the Langub’s cars. Luckily, nobody was injured and neither of the two homes that the tree fell between was hit. The clean-up, however, was a job for many.
“Everybody working here is doing it out of the kindness of their hearts,” said neighbor Deanna Bailey.
An enormous limb of the tree fell into her yard, trapping her vehicle in the garage. “I started out here by myself and everybody just started pitching in,” she said.
Several men worked to clear the two lawns of the debris from the tree with chainsaws on Monday afternoon while others carried away logs and brush.
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