Emergency Storm Tree Service in Ocala, FL

Emergency storm tree service is the work that cannot wait: a laurel oak lying across a roof, a pine snapped onto a car or a fence, a limb hanging over a driveway or the only path to the door. Marion County is inland and takes less of a hurricane's punch than the coast, but high winds, flooding and tornadoes are still its main natural hazards, and every summer brings thunderstorms with sudden gusts and lightning. Saturated sandy soil after days of rain lets even healthy trees tip over at the roots.

First, stay safe

Stay away from any tree or limb touching a power line, and treat every downed wire as live. Call 911 for a wire that is down or sparking, and report it to your electric utility. Do not try to cut a trunk that is under tension or pinned under its own weight; it can spring back with tremendous force. If a tree has hit the house, get everyone out of the affected rooms and shut off utilities if you smell gas.

What we do on a storm call

Calls are handled by danger, not by the order they come in: trees on occupied houses and trees blocking the only way out come first. The goal of the first visit is to make the property safe, which means lifting the weight off the roof in controlled pieces, cutting hanging limbs down, and clearing a driveway, then covering any opening in the roof if you have a tarp or roofer arranged. Full cleanup, stump grinding and removal of other damaged trees can follow on a regular schedule.

Insurance and paperwork

Homeowners policies generally treat a tree that falls on a covered structure differently from one that falls in the yard without hitting anything, so photograph the damage from several angles before work starts. We give you a written, itemized quote and invoice that separates removal from the structure, debris hauling and any other work, which is what an adjuster usually asks to see. Inside Ocala city limits, an emergency removal that needs a tree permit is applied for in person rather than online, and on SECO Energy lines, debris left after a storm is the property owner's to clear, so plan for haul-away on the quote.