Red flags that trees in your yard could fall during hurricane

A big concern for many homeowners before a hurricane is the possibility of a tree crashing into their home.

Durance Tree Service’s phone has been ringing off the hook all week. Workers were taking down trees until 10 p.m. on Wednesday night as they worked by flashlight.

“They say this Category 5 hurricane is rolling through pretty strong, so I figured I had to do what I had to do,” said Jarvae Hines, who asked Durance Tree Service to take down four trees before Hurricane Irma did.

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Owner Stacey Durance said homeowners want to watch out for dead limbs and trees with big cavities.

“If you’ve got dead limbs with no leaves on them, that’s a good indication that they’re dead," Durance said. "You also want to look at them and make sure they don’t have cavities, big holes, in them. That’s the weak point where they could fall over at,”

“Any that might be leaning real bad and has a lot of weight on that side, you might want to have them trimmed up, take some weight out of it,” Durance said.

Since many tree services are booked up, Durance said you may be able to trim some weight out of your trees on your own.

“Thin it out so the wind passes through instead of acting like a sail and catching everything, because that’s what pushes them over or breaks big limbs out,” Durance said.

Durance said he only recommends thinning out your tree yourself if you can do it from the ground because a lot of people get hurt when they try to do it from a ladder.

Cox Media Group