Lake Murray's tall pines and mature hardwoods are beautiful until a line of Midlands thunderstorms or a tropical system comes through. When trees come down on homes, driveways, and power lines, doing things in the right order keeps your family safe and your insurance claim clean.
1. Safety before anything else
- Treat every downed line as live. Never approach or move a tree that's touching or near a power line — call your utility and keep everyone well clear.
- Stay out from under damaged limbs. Branches hung up in a canopy (“widowmakers”) can drop without warning.
- Watch for tension. A bent or partially fallen trunk can be loaded like a spring. Cutting it wrong causes it to whip — this is the most common way people are hurt after storms.
2. Document before you clean up
If a tree hit your house, garage, fence, or vehicle, photograph it from several angles before anything is moved. Then call your insurer to open a claim and ask how they want emergency removal handled. Good photos and an itemized invoice make the claim far smoother.
3. Know what to leave to a pro
Small branches on the ground you can gather yourself. But anything on a structure, under tension, tangled in lines, or above head height is dangerous work for trained crews with the right rigging. That's exactly what our emergency & storm-damage service is for.
4. Get on the list early
After a big storm, every tree company in the Midlands is slammed at once. Calling early gets you on the schedule sooner — and we prioritize active hazards (trees on homes, blocked driveways, leaners over living spaces) across the Lake Murray area first. We run a 24/7 emergency line for exactly these situations.
After the emergency
Once the immediate hazard is handled, it's worth having any storm-stressed trees looked at. Trees that survived a storm can carry cracks or root damage that make them the next one to fall. A quick assessment — and preventive pruning before the next season — is cheaper than another emergency.