Storm Damage, Hanging Limbs and Power Lines

A Hanging Limb Comes Down on Its Own Timing

A limb that has broken but stayed caught up in the tree is either barely hanging on, or has come off completely and is being held up by whatever caught it. Either way it will usually come down on its own schedule, and that can just as easily be a still day as a windy one.

!Please keep everyone out from under a hanging limb, and don't try to pull it down from the ground.

A broken limb with the bark stripped, hung up between two trunks of a cedar elm

Real Arborwise example. A broken limb hung up between two trunks. We would rig it and bring it down under control instead of letting it choose when to drop.

Power Lines

Which Line It Is Changes Everything

The heavy lines running pole to pole along the street are the utility's. Regulations keep any crew that is not line clearance certified ten feet off them, and that includes us. Report anything caught in those lines to your electric provider, and stay away from it. We handle the rest of the property either side of that.

The single line running from a pole to your house is the service drop, and working around it is an everyday part of this job. If it is in the way, the utility will usually come out and drop the line so we can work, then put it back afterward. We coordinate that part. You don't need to chase anybody.

Power lines running past a tree, with the heavy lines on the pole and a single line dropping toward a house — **Which is which.** The heavy lines running pole to pole belong to the utility. The single line running to the house is the service drop.

!If a line is involved and you can't tell which, please don't go out there to figure it out. Take a photo from a safe distance and text it to us. We can usually tell from a picture.

From a Safe Distance

Photograph what is hanging and what it is over. From the ground, from a distance. Those two things are what we need to know first.

Look for what else moved. A lean that wasn't there last week, or cracked soil on one side of the base, is worth mentioning when you call.

Be careful who you let touch it. After a big storm, crews with a truck and a chainsaw show up from everywhere. Ask about insurance before anyone climbs. Cleaning up a limb badly can cost a tree that would have been fine.

Hangers First, Then the Rest of the Tree

We would work out what is hanging and what it is over, and deal with that before anything else. Then we look at whether the tree itself is worth keeping.

Every hanger and split limb, and what is under each one

Whether the main trunk or a major union has cracked

How much of the crown is gone, and whether what is left is balanced

Whether the base or the roots moved in the wind

A lot of storm-damaged trees can be saved with the right cuts. Some can't. We do our very best to answer our own phone, and storm damage is worth a call rather than a form.

Storm Damage, Hanging Limbs and Power Lines

A Hanging Limb Comes Down on Its Own Timing

Which Line It Is Changes Everything

From a Safe Distance

Hangers First, Then the Rest of the Tree

Not Sure This Matches Your Tree?