What to Do With a Storm-Damaged Tree

Hangers are the first priority: broken limbs caught in the canopy, still suspended. These are called widow-makers for a reason. They come down without any wind at all, on their own schedule, and they are the leading cause of post-storm injuries to homeowners.

Look up over every place people spend time — driveways, walkways, patios, play areas, where the car parks. If there is a hanger above any of them, stay out of that area and get it removed professionally. Do not throw a rope over it and pull.

This is the check almost nobody does and the one that finds the most dangerous trees.

Walk to the base of each significant tree and look at the soil. Cracked, heaved, or mounded soil on one side — usually the side opposite any lean — means the root plate has moved. A tree with a moved root plate is actively failing regardless of how healthy the canopy looks, and it will not recover its anchorage.

Also check whether a tree leans more than it used to. Photographs from before the storm help enormously here, which is one reason we tell people to photograph their property in May.

Not every damaged tree is finished. The distinction comes down to how much healthy structure remains.

The most useful thing about a post-storm walk is finding the damage that has not caused a problem yet.

Torn limb attachments that are still hanging on. Cracks in unions that have not opened fully. Root damage from soil movement that has not translated into a lean yet. Bark torn away from a section of trunk. All of these are failures in progress, and all of them are far cheaper to address now than after the next system.

Also pay attention to trees that were suddenly exposed. If a storm took down the trees that were sheltering yours, the survivors are now bearing wind loads they have never experienced, and they are disproportionately likely to fail next time.

Do not top a damaged tree to "even it out." A tree that lost limbs on one side is not helped by removing the healthy ones on the other. Corrective reduction over a couple of seasons is the right approach.

Do not paint or seal wounds. Wound dressings trap moisture and interfere with the tree’s natural compartmentalization process. A clean cut is the treatment.

Do not fertilize a storm-damaged tree immediately. A stressed tree does not need to be pushed into growth it cannot support. Water and time are more useful.

And do not cut anything under tension yourself. Storm-loaded wood moves when it is cut, and that is where the serious injuries happen. Our emergency tree service handles that work with the rigging it requires.

Photograph everything before it is cleaned up, whether or not you plan to file a claim. Include the failure point on any tree that came down, the damage to structures, and the overall scene.

If a tree hit a structure, keep the emergency make-safe work itemized separately from the full cleanup on your invoice — carriers frequently treat them differently. Our guide on what to do when a tree falls on your house covers the claim process in more detail.