FARGO - Recent storms have left North Dakota residents wondering how they're going to replace one of the state's most precious resources: trees.

Officials are adding up damage costs after a string of nasty weather events uprooted or snapped hundreds of trees, including a Sunday night storm that shook Griggs County with winds reported in the 100 mph range.

Nearly all areas of the state have been affected.

"North Dakota is the least forested state in the nation," said Tom Claeys, sustainable forestry coordinator for the state Forest Service in Bottineau. "Trees are more important to us because there are fewer of them. We hold them near and dear to our hearts."

A storm in the Langdon and Walhalla area took out many trees that were previously damaged or had shallow roots, said Tom Berg, staff forester for the Forest Service.

"It was pretty dramatic," Berg said. "I saw some Colorado blue spruce trees, because of the saturation of the ground, that were ripped up by the roots."

Berg said the storm even ripped off the tops of some bur oaks, known to be some the oldest and strongest trees in the state. Some of the trees are at least 150 to 200 years old, he said.

"We usually don't see a lot of damage with bur oaks," Claeys said.

Some Cooperstown area residents said the howling winds Sunday night sounded like a freight train.

"Trees have a lot of mechanisms to brace themselves against the wind," said Joe Zeleznik, extension forester for North Dakota State University. "But against winds like that, few trees can really survive."

The dollar value of trees is determined mainly by size, species, quality and location, Zeleznik said. He compares the recent events to a 2001 storm in eastern North Dakota that included more than $13 million in damage to trees in the city of Grand Forks.

"You can't put a dollar value on the memories," he said.

Also Monday, insurance Commissioner Jim Poolman said hail and wind storms earlier this month in the Dickinson and Walhalla area caused more than $18 million in damage, citing insurance company estimates.

The figures, which do not include crop damage, came as the state braced for another round of storms Tuesday night and today.

Western and central North Dakota were under a flood watch until this morning, and the eastern part of the state was under a flood watch until Thursday morning. Southwestern North Dakota also was under a tornado watch Tuesday afternoon and night.