Vancouver city workers have attached water bags to thousands of trees amid fears some won’t survive this year’s unusually dry weather.

Howard Normann, manager of urban forestry for the park board, said the current drought is the worst he’s seen in 25 years working with trees.

“I’ve never experienced this,” Normann said. “I don’t know if it’s a sign of things to come or not. I hope it maybe isn’t.”

August isn’t even half over, but signs of autumn are already showing up in parts of the city; trees have brown leaves mixed with the green, and some are even falling and piling up on the ground.

Normann said trees, like humans, peel down when they get hot, but it doesn’t mean they’re beyond hope.

“Anything that takes moisture, they’re going to lose,” he said. “We’re seeing trees that are almost completely bare of leaves, but the tree is still alive. It goes dormant.”

Dumping water on the trees doesn’t help much; because of the dryness of the soil, most of the water just runs off.

Instead, crews have attached slow-drip water bags to about 2,000 trees to help deliver much-needed moisture to the roots.

The bags last about 16 hours and need to be refilled at least once a week – preferably twice. In order to keep up, Normann said the city has doubled the number of manned water trucks making the rounds from five to 10.

“[We’re] hoping that we can bring them back or at least keep them alive until we get some rain,” he said.

Vancouver loses an average of about 1,000 trees a year to disease, age and other factors, Normann added, but it’s likely this year’s number will surpass that.

By how far remains unclear, and the final tally won’t be known until next spring.

“Trees are pretty resilient,” Normann said. “But they’re still showing signs of stress.”

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Maria Weisgarber