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Hurricane Recovery

The Louisiana Urban Forestry Council encourages citizens and units of local government to be prepare their trees for hurricane season (June 1 - November 30) each year. Also, the LUFC has recommendations to follow after a tropical systems makes landfall. The following links provide information to prepare.

 

Hurricane Recovery

 

In the immediate aftermath of a storm, it is very difficult to get a tree care professional to visit unless they are a storm chaser who may not have insurance much less be licensed and qualified to do safe tree work. The best chance in getting immediate help is if a homeowner has a relationship with a local arborist.

Home owners tend to have a post-storm panic and decide to have all surviving trees near their home removed (This action is sometimes encouraged by “traveling tree experts” who are only interested in separating a homeowner from his/her money. Remember, you will probably never see these people again). While this is an understandable response, the surviving trees may be the very trees that buffer damaging winds from future storms. The other down-side to removing healthy trees with minor damage is more debris is put on the curb slowing the post storm clean up effort.

Be A Good Citizen And Neighbor: A good rule of thumb is to only address the severely damaged trees. Trees that have been uprooted, trees that have broken trunks, trees hat have lost major branches with trunk damage are the first order of concern and should be addressed immediately.

Proper proning procedure

 

Download University of Florida's booklet (PDF) Assessing Damage and Restoring Trees After a Hurricane

 

Additional Resources

  • Arbor Day Foundation

    Contains information about how communities and individuals can save damaged trees after violent storms. All articles and artwork are downloadable for reprint.

  • Tree Link

    Contains many weather-related resources.

  • The Right Tree at the Right Place

    Important information on replanting.

  • Urban Forestry South

    A collection of resources, tools and links related to disaster management and tree planting, maintenance, and removal which can be used during post-storm activities (i.e. recovery, clean-up, restoration).

 

 

 

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