A Headache for Any Cleveland Area Home Owner. Gusting wind, lightning, snow, ice, heavy rain: all are common parts of life in Northeast Ohio and all are potentially hazardous to your trees. Mother Nature can take a serious toll on your tree population at any time of year. In warm spring and summer months, wind storms and excessive rain can cause oversaturated roots to fail and branches to weaken. During Northeast Ohio’s harsh winters, the weight of ice and snow can bring down even the strongest branches. No matter the cause, fallen limbs and downed trees are a real headache for homeowners, and can potentially cause serious injury to your property, yourself, or your family.

If you find yourself faced with a yard full of broken branches or a tree on your car or utility line, here are the immediate steps you should take:

• If the storm damage is confined to your residential property, contact a tree care professional. Never try to remove large debris by yourself; hanging branches and structurally unsound trees can pose a big safety hazard! Most clean up jobs require ladders and heavy branch removal equipment, which should only be handled by a professional arborist.
• If a branch or tree has fallen near a downed utility line, do not approach it! Potentially fatal hazards are not always obvious to the untrained eye, and will require a professional to safely handle them. Contact your utility company immediately.
• If the fallen branch or tree is in the street, notify the city as soon as possible.
• If your or someone else’s car has been damaged by a fallen tree, take photos of the scene and gather all the relevant information to file a car insurance claim.

Even trees that survive a storm seemingly intact may have sustained significant damage that is not apparent to the naked eye. A trained arborist should evaluate the tree’s structure and determine whether it is at risk to fail during the next Northeast Ohio storm.

VanCuren Tree Services has over thirty years of experience dealing with Northeast Ohio storm damage. From severe ice storm damage on the West Side of Cleveland to miles of wind-felled trees in Cleveland’s Eastern suburbs, we have truly seen it all! Thanks to our 24-Hour Emergency Line, you can rest assured knowing that you can reach us any time a storm strikes. VanCuren’s dedicated crews will evaluate, repair, and clean up tree-related storm damage in a timely manner. We can also review your remaining tree population for any subtle storm damage and intervene as necessary. More importantly, VanCuren also offers hazardous tree assessment and mitigation services to help prevent storm damage from happening again.