A Tree Came Down in the Storm: What to Do First and Who to Call

East Texas storms don't give much warning. You go to bed with a clear sky and wake up to the sound of a limb on the roof, or you walk out in the morning and find a pine across the driveway. It's a bad feeling. The first hour is mostly about keeping everyone safe and not making the problem bigger.

First, make sure everyone is okay

Check on the people in the house. If someone is hurt, or there's a fire, or the tree has broken something that puts people in danger, call 911 first. Everything else can wait. Get everyone out of any room the tree is leaning on, and stay out of it until someone qualified has looked at it.

Power lines come before everything else

If a tree or limb is touching a power line, or you can see a line down anywhere near it, treat every wire as live. Stay well back, keep kids and pets away, and don't touch the tree, a fence it's leaning on or anything wet near it. Call the power company and let them know. Tree crews don't work around energized lines until the utility has dealt with them.

Even lines that look dead or sag to the ground can carry power. There's no way to tell from a distance, so the safe move is to stay away. Jill Wolverton wrote that Jesus "was able to work safely to take down a tree next to power and cable lines." That's the kind of job to leave to someone with the right equipment, and not a weekend project.

Don't cut it yourself

It's tempting to grab a chainsaw, especially on a branch across the driveway. The danger is that a downed tree is rarely resting evenly. A trunk pinned against another tree, a limb bent under a load or a root ball still partly in the ground holds a lot of stored tension. One cut can release it, and the tree or limb can spring, roll or drop without warning. Add wet ground and a ladder, and plenty of people have gotten hurt trying to save a few dollars.

What you can do while you wait

• Take photos of the tree and the damage from several angles before anything is moved.
• Call your insurance company and ask what they need from you. Ask your insurer about anything specific to your policy.
• If water is coming in, put a tarp on the inside or move belongings away from the wet area, but don't climb onto a damaged roof.
• Keep people and pets away from the tree and from any hanging limbs overhead.

What to tell the crew when you call

A clear description saves time. Give your address and the nearest cross street, say what the tree is on (house, fence, car, driveway, shed), say whether it's touching a power line, and tell them whether anyone can get in or out. A photo texted to the crew helps even more.

Jill Wolverton wrote that Jesus "is very communicative from the first call to the end of the job," and that he arrived on time for the estimate and the job. Gwen Thompson described the crew as "fast, clean, and communicative." On a bad day, being easy to reach and clear about what happens next counts for a lot.

Why 24/7 matters

Storms don't care about office hours. A tree that comes down at 2 a.m. on a Saturday is still on your house at 2 a.m. on Saturday. JR Tree Service lists itself as open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and offers emergency service. Call, leave details, and you'll have someone looking at the problem instead of lying awake wondering about it.

How an emergency removal usually goes

The crew starts by looking over the situation: where the weight is, what's holding it up, what's under it, where the lines are. Then they work out a plan so the tree comes off in a controlled way and doesn't shift onto the structure. Heavy pieces can be lifted with a loader and grapple, and limbs go through the chipper. When the tree is gone, the crew cleans up the debris.

Afterward, you may still want a trim on the trees that remain. A storm usually shows you which ones are weak, and it's cheaper to deal with those on your schedule than in the next storm.

If a tree is down around Tyler or Chandler, call Jesus at (903) 952-7502. For a tree that's still standing but worries you, the estimate is free.