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There were high winds in the Chicago Area yesterday. We've been worried about a tree in our front yard because it is old, and we've been making sure no one parks underneath it.
Instead a tree in our backyard fell down. It was an old tree, I think it was some sort of ornamental plum, because every now and then you'd see a fruit that looked and smelled like a plum, but it never made a lot of them and they were always really small.
There was a big V in the trunk about a yard above the ground. The main trunk is about a foot and a half in diameter, and the main part of the V (about 2/3 of the total tree) was about a foot around. That was the part that came down. We still have the remaining 1/3 standing. I don't know if we are going to take that part down too or what.
When it fell only the top flexible branches hit the house, so no damage to our house. We don't yet know how badly our detached garage is damaged though.
I feel dumb because last night, in order to make today easier, I went out and started trimming branches and stuff. Now people are telling me that we should have waited until today and taken pictures in case we need to make an insurance claim.
I don't know yet. The main trunk is there and you can see the piles of branches, so hopefully we will be ok if we do need to make a claim.
Posts: 11265 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Sorry about your tree. Good luck w/ the insurance company if you need to make the claim (but I hope you don't have to).
Growing up, we had two huge weeping willow trees in our backyard on Long Island. They both came down in the same storm, and I missed those trees ever after. Our poor yard always seemed so bare afterwards! Luckily, the tops of the trees fell just a few feet short of the back of our home, so there was no damage.
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Good luck on lack of damage/insurance claims. Falling trees really suck.
Our neighbor has a really old, dead tree that needs to be taken down, but hasn't yet. Personally, I'm not too worried, as it's not quite tall enough to reach our property, but it could fall on any number of townhouses or cars if the wind took it down. If I lived next door I'd be hassling the HOA to get them to require him to take it down.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Yeah, it was also a case of "Wow that was close!" If it had been any taller it would have done serious damage to our house. We had no idea that particular tree was having issues. It seemed ok.
We let the dogs out, and all but one came back in. He was sitting on the picnic table, where he likes to be "king of all he surveys".
We finally decided to leave him out there for a little longer since he didn't want to come back in. 20 minutes later we realized he was still crouched in the exact same position on the picnic table. When I went out to see what was wrong with him, I realized that the tree had fallen between the picnic table and the back door, completely blocking his way through.
He wasn't hurt, just traumatized. It came down right next to him. Steve went out and carried him over all of the branches. He's not a dog that normally likes to be picked up, but he seemed very happy about it this time.
We heard a couple of popping sounds outside, but no loud cracks or anything so when I went outside and this huge tree was down, it was a huge surprise.
Posts: 11265 | Registered: Mar 2002
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