Across Tulsa, arborists are busy clearing debris from people’s homes and properties.
Many people in Tulsa love their tall mature trees, but after Saturday night’s storm they became a big problem.
For many Tulsanians, this is a familiar sight: trees and branches cover streets, paths and houses.
Eric Warren lives near 21st and Peoria and said the damage was unlike anything he had ever seen.
“Some branches also fell from that tree, which fell here and then across the road,” he said.
Warren said his home was luckily not hit by trees, but his neighbor wasn’t so lucky.
“The whole tree probably weighs 20,000 pounds on this job we’re working on. It’s like dropping four cars on the house or on yourself,” said Rickert Tree Services’ Todd Rickert.
His tree care business is working to remove the giant tree from the neighbor’s backyard. He said jobs like this would keep her busy for weeks.
“Clearly this is an overwhelming situation for any local arborist, including mine in Tulsa who will have so much work to do over the next few weeks. They won’t know what to do,” he said.
Todd said when looking for a tree removal company, make sure they have liability and workers’ compensation insurance and don’t prepay for the services.
“This is a perfect storm, no pun intended, where homeowners are being taken advantage of and scammed,” he said.
He also warns against doing the job yourself if you don’t have the experience or the right equipment.
“We will see more accidents and injuries, and possibly worse, when homeowners try to do the work themselves but don’t do it every day. You could easily be killed or injured,” he said.
After seeing the damage to his neighbor and the surrounding area, Eric Warren is happy to be safe.
“Honestly, the first thing we thought was, thank God, we weren’t hurt and nothing worse happened,” Warren said.
www.newson6.com
https://www.newson6.com/story/6490e3878c8b220735303140/tulsa-tree-services-work-to-remove-debris-from-homes-properties
