Storm-Damaged Tree Work in Derby — What to Do First

Named storms come through Derbyshire most winters and the phone starts on the same morning. Usually it is one of four things: a limb down on the lawn, a limb still hanging in the canopy, a stem split, or a tree leaning at an angle it was not at yesterday.

They are not equally urgent, and knowing which one you are looking at is genuinely useful, because it tells you whether to ring us now or ring us on Monday.

The First Hour — What Not to Touch

A branch that has broken but not fallen is the single most dangerous thing in a storm-damaged tree. It may be resting on another limb, hooked in a fork, or hanging by a strip of bark, and the thing holding it can let go with no warning at all.

Wood under load also behaves in ways that surprise people. A partly split stem, or a limb bent over and pinned by another, has stored energy in it — put a saw into the wrong side of that and it does not cut apart gently, it springs. This is how people get badly hurt clearing up after a storm, and it is nearly always someone doing a job they thought was small.

So, in order:

• Keep everybody, children and pets included, out from under the tree
• Move cars out from underneath if you can do it without going under the damage
• Do not pull on anything hanging, and do not try to shake it down
• Do not put a ladder against a damaged tree
• Photograph it from a safe distance before anything is moved
• If a cable is involved, treat it as live and call the network operator, not us

Is It an Emergency or Can It Wait?

It is worth being straight about this, because emergency callouts cost more and plenty of storm damage does not need one.

Ring straight away if a tree or limb is blocking access, sitting on a building, resting on a fence that is giving way, hanging over a public footpath or road, or if a tree has shifted at the base and there is a target underneath it. Those situations get worse on their own.

It can generally wait for a normal booking if the limb is already on the ground, or the damage is high in the crown with nothing but garden below it. A branch lying on the lawn is untidy, not dangerous. We would rather book you in properly than charge you emergency money for a job that will keep.

The One Everyone Underestimates: the Root Plate

The damage people worry about is the visible sort. The one that actually matters most is a tree that has partly lifted at the base.

Look at the ground on the opposite side to the lean. If the soil has cracked, humped, or lifted away from the trunk, the root plate has moved. That tree has lost a large part of what was holding it up, and it will not put itself back. It does not need another storm to come over either — saturated ground and an ordinary windy night will do it.

That one is worth a phone call the same day, whatever else is going on.

Insurance, Photographs and Neighbours

Before anything is cleared, photograph it. Wide shots showing where the tree is in relation to the building, then closer shots of the damage. Insurers ask for these and they are impossible to get once the tree is in the back of a chipper truck.

If the tree that failed is your neighbour’s and the damage is on your side, take the pictures anyway. Sorting out who pays for what is between the two of you and your insurers, but it is much easier to sort out with evidence than without it.

We can provide a written description of what we found and what we did, which is often what an insurer actually wants. Ask for it at the time rather than three weeks later.

What Happens After the Clear-Up

A tree that has lost a major limb is not necessarily finished. Sometimes the sensible outcome is a clean-up of the tear wound and a reduction to rebalance what is left; sometimes the damage has taken out so much of the crown, or opened up so much decay, that removal is the honest answer.

We will tell you which, and we will tell you if it is not urgent. A tree that has come through a storm looking scruffy but structurally sound does not need to come down because it looks untidy in March — it will look considerably better in June.

For the wider picture on what makes a tree unsafe in the first place, our dangerous trees guide for Derby covers the warning signs that are worth acting on before a storm rather than after one.

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