Water Oak hit by lightning... will it survive?

[Here we go again...]

I am hoping someone knows something about trees.

We have a HUGE, mature, water oak in our back yard.

Last week it was hit by lightning and kind of imploded. The bark blew off of a section about 4 foot by 10 foot and the bark all around the tree is cracked. There are also some splits in the tree that have pieces of the tree sticking out... like it blew out from the inside of the tree.

I am wondering if a water oak can survive this type of hit. I know a live oak will "heal" itself, but what about a water oak? Should we look into taking the tree down? It is huge and shades our whole back yard. I would hate to lose it... but I would hate it even more if it fell on my house.

[JanetMegan]

I had a White Oak hit last year, within 3 weeks the leaves started turning brown and I had to have it cut down ($1200) It was HUGE, probably 2 1/2 feet across the stump. Makes for good firewood if you have a splitter. Sorry to be the bearer or bad news...

Actually, I had three trees around it that have since died as well from the top down...

[SBETigg]

My MIL has a Catalpa tree that was hit twice and did survive. It hit near the top and near the bottom/middle, knocked a whole chunk off the top and side. But the tree didn't die and is still thriving about ten years later. I think it depends on the damage and how it affects the tree. It could be a danger now and should probably be looked at by professionals, especially if it could impact your house or neighbors houses in a fall. I hope it can be saved!

[MsMin]

My neighbor has a white oak that lived after a lightening strike but it only took about 25% of the tree with the strike. I've seen some split down the middle.
I do know that if you want to kill a tree, August is the time to do it in b/c the sap is up and the conditions are usually harsh w/ extreme heat and sometimes little rain (not like now huh?)
Before I cut it down I would check with a specialist. LSU ag Center often has great info for area problems. Have you looked at their site?
Sending some tree :pixie: for you and your tree b/c regardless I know it won't be fun. :(

[disneydeb]

We had an oak tree in our back yard hit by lightning and it died. :( One in our front yard was hit last summer and it survived.:)

Our homeowners policy took care of the removal of the dead tree.

[#1donaldfan]

Sorry to hear about your shade.....I've seen an oak hit once and it looked like a saw mill underneath it....there were big pieces of wood everywhere and it lived. I suppose it depends on how healthy it was prior, how good the soil and nutrinets are around it...etc....tree company's around here can "top" a tree and you'd think it'll never live, they took way, way too much out of it and yet it lives on.....