After a storm passes, the useful instinct is to get outside and start clearing. Slow down for the first hour. A tree that has just come down is under loads you cannot see, and the most common storm injuries here are not from the wind, they are from people and chainsaws meeting a damaged tree too soon. Broadway Tree Care runs an emergency tree removal crew across Citrus County through the season, and the advice below is what we tell neighbors who call.
First, make the area safe
Walk the property at a distance and take stock before you touch anything. Keep children and pets inside. Look up as well as down, because the danger is often a limb that did not finish falling.
- A cracked limb hung up in the canopy, called a widow-maker, can drop without warning. Stay out from under it.
- A trunk that is leaning or has lifted soil on one side is still moving. Give it room.
- Branches bent and pinned under the weight of the tree are loaded like a spring. Cutting one releases that force suddenly.
Trees and power lines: hands off
This is the one rule with no exceptions. Any line touched by a tree, pulled tight, or lying across the yard is treated as live, even if your power is out and even if it looks like a phone or cable wire. Do not go near it, do not move the limb off it, and do not let anyone drive over it. Call 911 and your electric utility, which for most of Citrus County is Duke Energy Florida, and let them de-energize and clear the wire. Only after the line is confirmed dead can a crew safely take the wood off it.
What not to do yourself
We understand the urge to fix it before dark. A few things reliably turn a property loss into an injury:
- Climbing onto a fallen tree or a roof to reach a limb. Storm-damaged wood shifts underfoot and roofs are slick and weakened.
- Cutting a limb that is under tension. Where the wood is bent or pinned, a saw releases the load in a direction you cannot predict.
- Running a chainsaw you do not use often, on the ground you cannot see, in a hurry. Kickback is how most saw injuries happen.
- Working alone. If nothing else, have someone with you who can call for help.
Document it before you clean up
Before anything moves, photograph the damage from several angles: the tree, where it landed, and any harm to the house, roof, fence or vehicles. Get wide shots and close-ups. Keep receipts for anything you spend, including tarps and any emergency work to stop further damage. Most policies expect you to prevent the loss from getting worse, so covering an open hole in the roof is reasonable, but the record you take now is what the adjuster works from later. When you call us, we can quote the removal in writing so you have a figure to hand your insurer.
Emergency, or can it wait?
Not every storm-damaged tree is a middle-of-the-night call. A limb resting on open ground, clear of any wire, is usually stable enough to wait a day. What should not wait is a tree or limb on the house, a trunk split or leaning over where people go, a stem hung up in the canopy, or anything on or near a line. If you are not sure which one you have, call and describe it, and we will tell you plainly whether it needs a crew tonight or can hold until morning.
After the immediate danger
Once the tree is down and safe, the rest is cleanup and, sometimes, a decision about the trees still standing. A storm that took one tree often stressed its neighbors, and a tree health assessment is the honest way to find out whether any of them became a risk. If a damaged tree has to come out, here is what actually drives the cost of removing it. And when the season is quiet again, the work that keeps the next storm smaller is done ahead of time, not during the warning.