"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
HeyBub wrote:
My home backs up against a 200'-wide high-voltage power line easement.
After Ike, looking across this field, I can see maybe thirty fences
knocked down by the high winds. Every one of these downed fences was
erected using wooden posts.

On my side of the field - for reasons passing understanding - every one
of the fences remained intact and every one of the fences was erected
using metal poles.

In the interests of full disclosure, we did have one break on our fence;
the wind, using the pickets as a sail, fractured one cross-member, but
the poles on either side of the fracture remained upright.

Maybe the construction technique using the wooden posts was flawed, I
can't say for sure. But the metal post method survived the storm and the
wooden posts didn't.
Poses the question; Why do tornados demolish all of the houses on a block
and leave one untouched?
Perhaps the houses on your side of the transmission line blocked the wind
enough to save your fences, perhaps those fences blocked the wind to save
your fence but suffered as a consequence. Several times the winds have torn
up the trees on the vacant lot next to me and left my trees alone. Mother
Nature does as she likes, I guess.

Tom G.