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jittery_kricket

Tornado damage - leaning tree

jittery_kricket
18 years ago

2 weeks ago my neighborhood was hit by an F1 tornado. It damaged 8 homes on my side of the street and took down about 200 trees. My house is not inhabitable at this time but I have had all the fallen trees removed off of my house and yard. I still have about 10 trees left standing in my backyard. We had more thunderstorms and rain a few days ago. I was at the house yesterday and noticed that a large Poplar tree in my backyard is leaning. It is leaning at about a 65 degree angle. The ground around the tree has pulled up and you can see under the roots. I guess the roots go down pretty deep and that is what is holding it in the ground. But we are supposed to have more rain on Wednedsay and Thursday and I know that the rain is going to loosen the ground enough that this tree will fall. It is a huge tree and it is going to land smack dab in the middle of my next door neighbor's house. They had some tornado/tree damage as well and although I think the house is still inhabitable, they are staying elsewhere and no one knows where.

My question - if I have this tree cut down before it falls, can I add the cost of removal to my growing list of tornado damage and will my homeowners insurance pay for it? If the tree falls before I can get it cut down, can I be charged with negligence and be forced to pay for their home repairs even though this tree was fine before the tornado?

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