SEATTLE -- Washington's drought is aiding a disease that devastates elm trees.
Seattle Department of Transportation arborist Nolan Rundquist says his department is on pace to help remove at least 25 trees this year due to Dutch Elm Disease, or DED. He says that's twice a normal year.
"What the disease does basically is shut the water to the other parts of the tree," Rundquist explained. "The fungus plugs up their arteries."
The fungus is spread by the elm bark beetle.
DED is normally more prevalent in the Midwest because there are more elm trees there. Rundquist says elms make up less than one percent of the city's tree inventory, but there could be as many as 5,000 in Seattle alone.
He blames the drought for drying out the elms.
"Whenever we have really hot dry weather, it makes things 10 times worse for the trees," Rundquist said.
The warning signs include trees browning and losing leaves. Arborists say you have to catch the disease early if you want to save a sick elm tree. There is no cure for DED once an elm is infected.
