Olive Branch, MS—
FAST FACTS:
- Winter storm predicted with possible one inch of ice
- Ice storms often cause tree limbs to break, causing damage
- Tree services working ahead of storm
dennis.turner@wreg.com
(Olive Branch, MS 1/27/2010) Forecasts call for ice and snow over the next few days, and that creates a danger of falling limbs.
In previous ice storms in the mid south, it's caused serious damage and even death.
Anyone who remembers the 1994 ice storm remembers how beautiful, but deadly it was.
Ice weighed down tree branches bringing them crashing down like missiles.
But many folks are out to prevent that.
Lots of us love trees around our homes. "We have a lot of pine trees way above, they're really tall." said Jackie Hancock of Olive Branch.
As we've seen in previous years, ice can put so much extra weight on a tree and its limbs that they can come crashing down with explosive force.
In fact, ice can increase the weight of a tree by twenty or thirty times.
Those icy missiles go right through roofs, snap power lines and can crush a car.
"When you have these larger trees on your property or even some of the medium sizes and smaller ones they can do some serious damage to you, your property, or your house," explained Jared Houston of Woodland Tree Service.
Experts like Woodland Tree Service have been busy helping customers prepare for the upcoming storm, making sure the most dangerous limbs are removed from beautiful old trees.
A tree might only take a little trimming here and there to make it safe. A little expense now, can save you hundreds, even thousands in repair bills later.
In fact, tree companies recommend property owners think ahead, like the utility companies do and get trees cut in the summer or fall, well ahead of winter storms.
And consider the types of trees you have. "Everybody knows about Pine trees, the most susceptible obviously, but River Birch, Maple, some of your Tulip Poplars can also cause trouble." said Houston.
He says the key is "maintenance, maintenance, maintenance."
"When the last storm came thorough, we checked 'em out and had a bunch of 'em cut down so we're pretty save with 'em this time." said Hancock.
Houston says there's a lot we can do ourselves, like cutting lower, smaller and decaying limbs.
He says for trees with wide heavy branches, definitely call a tree service.
