HOUSTON -- Hurricane Ike wiped out thousands of trees in the Greater Houston area, including many planted by the City of Houston.

Those falling trees often took power lines down with them.

Now city leaders are planning to replace the trees with varieties that are more likely to withstand the next hurricane. “Pine trees, you know, snapped all over the city in the high winds. Oaks came up by the root ball,” said Houston City Council Member Sue Lovell.

Next month, the city will make a list of trees strong enough to hold up during hurricanes—and then require that only those trees be planted near power lines. There are some leading candidates.

“The native bald cypress or Louisiana bald cypress did well, and believe it or not the magnolias did well,” said Taylor Moore with Newton Nursery.

The city is also worried about the roots because the wider the root ball, the more it impacts the city’s sewer lines underground.

That means the live oak could become Houston’s tree of choice. It holds up in the wind and its roots won’t wrap around the sewer system.

“We’ll have another hurricane, no doubt, we live along the Gulf Coast," said Lovell. "We just want to be a little bit smarter about it next time.”

“That way we have something that’s an investment in our future and not something that we might lose in 40 or 50 years," said Moore.

The next big storm will test the trees we plant today—now the city is working to make sure they pass that test.