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Samster

Well-known member
Joined
May 30, 2008
Messages
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Location
South Carolina
We had just arrived at a fundraising event the other night & got a call from our son that a GIANT tree from the city's property had broken off at about 15-20 ft above ground and hit our house!! Yes, folks our entire side yard was full of a very large, old tree. There were no storms, big winds, or unusual weather that evening but a few gentle gusts of wind. The house is bruised and marred and we've already stared repairing several broken first floor windows. The entire side yard landscaping is pretty much gone, along with several sections of fencing. It has been very dry here and continued high temps in the mid 90s.
After things calmed down yesterday as we were dealing with the aftermath, I thought about what this would have been like if we were still hosting guests? Our son said that it felt like an earthquake when the tree came down. It hit the roof directly above a guest room. Roof is damaged, but intact, since it was branches of the tree that got it and not the trunk.
It took city workers about 4 hours to remove all the tree debris because the first tree also hit another tree and knocked a big branch off of that one. They had many workers and trucks here and were working very efficiently. They have to come back to grind down the 2.5-3 diameter ft trunk.
 
Oh wow!!! THat sounds awful..but like you said not as bad as it could have been. So sorry to hear this news.
 
Oh wow!!! THat sounds awful..but like you said not as bad as it could have been. So sorry to hear this news..
City%20Tree%20Damage%202010Sep23%20003.jpg
Yep, no one was hurt. I am headed outside now to see what can be saved of thousands of hours of yard work and thousands of dollars of landscaping. I am hoping that a camelia that was totally uprooted can be salvaged. Boo hoo hoo....
 
Oh my goodness! I am so sorry this happened. What a task to get it all cleaned up.
 
Oh my goodness! I am so sorry this happened. What a task to get it all cleaned up..
Actually, the tree and tree debris is gone. It was a city tree so thankfully they cleaned it all up. But of course they are denying any negligence. Interesting how they have no record of us calling a couple of years ago to look at that tree when my dh called to tell them that he thought it was hollow.....
I'm heading out to work in what is left of the yard there and check to see if the sprinkler system survived.
cry_smile.gif

med_City%20Tree%20Damage%202010Sep23%20020.jpg

 
Oh my goodness! I am so sorry this happened. What a task to get it all cleaned up..
Actually, the tree and tree debris is gone. It was a city tree so thankfully they cleaned it all up. But of course they are denying any negligence. Interesting how they have no record of us calling a couple of years ago to look at that tree when my dh called to tell them that he thought it was hollow.....
I'm heading out to work in what is left of the yard there and check to see if the sprinkler system survived.
cry_smile.gif

med_City%20Tree%20Damage%202010Sep23%20020.jpg

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I'd have a meeting with the appropriate person in city govt. and if that did not go well, I'd have my lawyer schedule the next meeting. They are liable for all damage and should be thankful no one was injured or killed.
 
are you covered by your insurance? it is awful A large pine tree fell in my parents garden and it was within 10 yards of the house and that was bad enough. best of luck salvaging the plants you may be lucky if you act quickly.
 
oh my! i'm so sorry. but glad no one was hurt!
we had a tree flatten a truck, a car and a boat. the old car and boat were not insured. worse still the truck should have been totalled but was not. have had no end of trouble with the truck since. no homeowner coverage because the tree didn't bash into the house ... or some loophole like that. grrrr
 
Oh wow!!! THat sounds awful..but like you said not as bad as it could have been. So sorry to hear this news..
City%20Tree%20Damage%202010Sep23%20003.jpg
Yep, no one was hurt. I am headed outside now to see what can be saved of thousands of hours of yard work and thousands of dollars of landscaping. I am hoping that a camelia that was totally uprooted can be salvaged. Boo hoo hoo....
.
That is a massive amount of heart rot. That tree part was coming down. I wonder if your city has an arborist on staff. Many do; they are supposed to identify hazard trees.
 
that sure looks rotten inside! keep those pictures! is it all hauled away? i think you have a case!
 
Oh my goodness! I am so sorry this happened. What a task to get it all cleaned up..
Actually, the tree and tree debris is gone. It was a city tree so thankfully they cleaned it all up. But of course they are denying any negligence. Interesting how they have no record of us calling a couple of years ago to look at that tree when my dh called to tell them that he thought it was hollow.....
I'm heading out to work in what is left of the yard there and check to see if the sprinkler system survived.
cry_smile.gif

med_City%20Tree%20Damage%202010Sep23%20020.jpg

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I'd have a meeting with the appropriate person in city govt. and if that did not go well, I'd have my lawyer schedule the next meeting. They are liable for all damage and should be thankful no one was injured or killed.
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Pollyanna said:
I'd have a meeting with the appropriate person in city govt. and if that did not go well, I'd have my lawyer schedule the next meeting. They are liable for all damage and should be thankful no one was injured or killed.
Polly, in many states that is not true. In my area of the country it is common to have tree damage from neighboring properties due to storms. The laws do vary from state to state but many say that once a tree falls in someone elses property, the tree removal etc. becomes the matter of the property owner it lands on. That doesn't sound logical but it is what it is.
When we found this out, we had an arborist come over and mark all my neighbors trees that could threaten our home. Then we sent a registered letter to the neighbor along with the arborist's notes. Now that the neighbor has been properly advised of the risk, it is now up to him to take care of the risk or bare the consequences if one of those trees does damage to our home or property.
It is very important to know what the laws are regarding this in your area so you are able to limit your potential risk.....
That said, it is also true that since the city workers came and removed the damaged tree from Samsters property that it could be used as leverage as them accepting fault. - A lawyer would be able to determine if that would stick in the court system where Samster lives.
 
Oh my goodness! I am so sorry this happened. What a task to get it all cleaned up..
Actually, the tree and tree debris is gone. It was a city tree so thankfully they cleaned it all up. But of course they are denying any negligence. Interesting how they have no record of us calling a couple of years ago to look at that tree when my dh called to tell them that he thought it was hollow.....
I'm heading out to work in what is left of the yard there and check to see if the sprinkler system survived.
cry_smile.gif

med_City%20Tree%20Damage%202010Sep23%20020.jpg

.
I'd have a meeting with the appropriate person in city govt. and if that did not go well, I'd have my lawyer schedule the next meeting. They are liable for all damage and should be thankful no one was injured or killed.
.
Pollyanna said:
I'd have a meeting with the appropriate person in city govt. and if that did not go well, I'd have my lawyer schedule the next meeting. They are liable for all damage and should be thankful no one was injured or killed.
Polly, in many states that is not true. In my area of the country it is common to have tree damage from neighboring properties due to storms. The laws do vary from state to state but many say that once a tree falls in someone elses property, the tree removal etc. becomes the matter of the property owner it lands on. That doesn't sound logical but it is what it is.
When we found this out, we had an arborist come over and mark all my neighbors trees that could threaten our home. Then we sent a registered letter to the neighbor along with the arborist's notes. Now that the neighbor has been properly advised of the risk, it is now up to him to take care of the risk or bare the consequences if one of those trees does damage to our home or property.
It is very important to know what the laws are regarding this in your area so you are able to limit your potential risk.....
That said, it is also true that since the city workers came and removed the damaged tree from Samsters property that it could be used as leverage as them accepting fault. - A lawyer would be able to determine if that would stick in the court system where Samster lives.
.
Thanks for the heads up. This week, I'll look into this info for my property. We need to get a tree trimmer over here for some of our own trees, too! This is a good reminder for all before the winter storms come around.
 
HooBoy! Now I will have to REALLY start saving to get that darned blue spruce taken down. It towers over the house and every kind of wire imaginable runs through it! The power company offered to take it down for free in 1995 but DH (BLESS HIS LITTLE PEA-PICKIN' HEART) said no. The power company does not do that any more. Boo-hoo!
 
Oh wow!!! THat sounds awful..but like you said not as bad as it could have been. So sorry to hear this news..
City%20Tree%20Damage%202010Sep23%20003.jpg
Yep, no one was hurt. I am headed outside now to see what can be saved of thousands of hours of yard work and thousands of dollars of landscaping. I am hoping that a camelia that was totally uprooted can be salvaged. Boo hoo hoo....
.
That is a massive amount of heart rot. That tree part was coming down. I wonder if your city has an arborist on staff. Many do; they are supposed to identify hazard trees.
.
Yes, we do have an arborist as well as an urban forestry department (they are the ones that cleaned up the mess). We called the city 2 years ago because we thought that tree was hollow. My dh got a call that it had been checked and was fine. The city has no record of the call (of course) and stated that the city was not negligent and it was an act of nature. It wasn't that windy the evening that it fell.
 
are you covered by your insurance? it is awful A large pine tree fell in my parents garden and it was within 10 yards of the house and that was bad enough. best of luck salvaging the plants you may be lucky if you act quickly..
Not sure yet if we're covered by the insurance, because of the circumstances. We're going to try and get the city to cover the deductible.
Yes, naive that we were....we should have sent a certified letter to the city government about that tree. I guess I always assume that whomever will do the right thing.
Meanwhile, we spent all day doing the regular yard work and then cleaned up about 1/4 of the gardens on that side of the house. My hydrangeas are cut down pretty far but I think they'll be OK. Eight azaleas are goners. We re-planted a camelia that was uprooted. My perennial garden was pretty much crushed like a pancake. :-(
 
oh my! i'm so sorry. but glad no one was hurt!
we had a tree flatten a truck, a car and a boat. the old car and boat were not insured. worse still the truck should have been totalled but was not. have had no end of trouble with the truck since. no homeowner coverage because the tree didn't bash into the house ... or some loophole like that. grrrr.
I remember you had pictures of that! That was terrible. We have all kinds of photos. Took more today before we started the cleanup.
 
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