Storm Damaged Tree? What to Do in the First 24 Hours

A storm just blew through and your tree is on the garage, hung up in a power line, or split down the middle. You are standing in the yard wondering what to do with a storm damaged tree, what to do first, and whether you are about to make a mistake that costs you. Most people who Google storm damaged tree what to do at 9pm on a Sunday are panicking, and the panic leads to the two most common mistakes: touching something they should not touch, and calling the wrong people in the wrong order. This is the hour-by-hour playbook we walk Ontario homeowners through, in the order we actually want you to act.

Hour 0: stay away from anything touching a wire

If any part of the tree is in contact with overhead wires, treat the entire tree, the soil around it, and the ground for several feet in every direction as live. Electricity can travel through wet wood, wet grass, and even chain-link fencing. People get hurt every storm season because they assume a downed limb on a service drop is harmless.

Get everyone, including pets, at least 10 metres back. Do not touch the tree. Do not move the car if a limb is on it. Do not try to free anything from a wire with a wood-handled tool. The wood-handle-is-safe idea is wrong once the wood gets wet.

Call your hydro utility first, not a tree service. Toronto Hydro 416-542-8000 covers the City of Toronto. Hydro One 1-800-434-1235 covers most of the rest of southern Ontario including Hamilton-area, Whitby, Kitchener-Waterloo, and the GTA outskirts. Alectra Utilities 1-833-253-2872 covers Mississauga, Brampton, and parts of Hamilton.

No arborist in Ontario is legally allowed to work on a tree in contact with live primary wires. The utility de-energizes first, then either removes the tree from the line themselves or releases it so a tree service can take it down. While you wait, text your neighbours so they stay clear too.

Hour 1: document everything before you touch it

Insurance adjusters look for specific things in storm-damage photos. Get them on the first pass, before anyone moves the tree or starts the cleanup.

The four shots adjusters actually want: a wide shot from the street showing the full property and the tree, a closer shot of where the tree fell with whatever it landed on in frame, a photo of the root plate or break point on the trunk, and a photo of any visible decay in the broken section (hollow trunk, mushroom conks, soft punky wood). Your phone time-stamps these automatically. Do not turn that off.

If part of the tree is still standing, photograph that too. Adjusters use the standing portion to estimate the original tree's size, which affects the removal claim. A wide shot of the standing remnant is usually all they need.

Write a quick note of when the storm hit, what kind of storm it was (wind, ice, thunderstorm, microburst), and roughly when the tree came down. Type it into your phone. Adjusters open claims faster when the homeowner can name the storm event.

Hour 2 to 4: call the right people in the right order

Order matters because the wrong sequence creates gaps in your insurance claim and slows the actual fix. Work through these in sequence, not in parallel:

1. Utility if any part of the tree is touching a wire (you already did this above).

2. City 311 if a city-owned tree caused the damage. Boulevard trees, park trees, and any tree on city property are the city's problem. Toronto residents: 311 or the Toronto storm damage to trees page. Mississauga, Burlington, Hamilton, Oakville: each has a 311 equivalent for tree calls. Do this before your insurance call so you can tell the adjuster the city has the file open.

3. Insurance company with the photos. Most carriers approve emergency mitigation, tarping, and removal up to the policy cap on the first call. You will get a claim number on the spot. Keep it.

4. Tree service for the actual mitigation and removal. By the time you call us, you have a claim number, you have photos, and you know whether the tree is the city's or yours. The call takes 5 minutes instead of 25.

When emergency tree service helps vs when it can wait

Not every storm damaged tree needs a same-day visit. Knowing the difference saves you money. Emergency rates are higher than standard removal rates because you are paying for a crew that drops what they are doing.

Same-day emergency work covers: a tree on a house, garage, or shed. Hung-up limbs that could still fall on a roof, car, or walkway. A tree blocking the driveway or the only exit from the property. A split or leaning tree over a high-value target like a porch, fuel line, hot tub, or kids play structure. Tarping a punctured roof to stop water damage from spreading.

What waits 1 to 5 business days: a tree down in the backyard that did not hit anything. A snapped limb on the ground with no remaining hung-up wood overhead. A damaged but standing tree with no immediate hazard. Stump grinding, cleanup, and chipping (almost always a second visit, even on emergency calls).

Calling for a same-day emergency on a tree that can wait until Monday usually costs more than it needs to. We tell people which category they are in over the phone before we dispatch. If your situation is a Monday job, we book it for Monday and you do not pay emergency rates.

Our emergency tree service covers the GTA core with the fastest response inside our regular service area. Further out, we coordinate same business day where safe.

What to tell your insurance company

Most homeowner policies in Ontario cover storm-caused tree damage to insured structures: the house, attached garage, fence, and sometimes detached garage. They typically do not cover the cost to remove a tree that fell in the yard and damaged nothing. That is the most expensive surprise after a storm.

Wording on the claim matters. Tree fell on insured structure during storm event triggers coverage. Tree fell in yard during storm usually does not. Same tree, same storm, different sentence, different outcome. Tell the adjuster what the tree hit, not just that the tree came down.

Have ready: date and time of the storm, your photos, your address, your policy number, and a rough cost estimate. We can write a one-page mitigation invoice on site with photos, written specifically for an adjuster's eyes, that you forward straight to your insurer.

If a neighbour's tree fell onto your property, you file under your own policy first. The argument between adjusters about whose responsibility it was happens later, and it usually does not change what you pay out of pocket. Do not wait for the neighbour to file. Their insurer will deal with yours through subrogation.

What we actually do on a same-day storm call

Site arrival starts with a full safety assessment. No climbing, no rigging, no chainsaw running until power lines are confirmed clear and the failure mechanism is understood. Trees that come down in a storm often have hidden structural damage that determines how we approach the takedown.

Mitigation work in the first visit usually includes: cut and clear anything blocking access or still moving in the wind. Tarp openings in roofs or walls to stop water entry. Rope down hung-up limbs that cannot be left until a full removal day. Remove fall debris from driveways, walkways, and yards within reach.

We leave the site with an itemized invoice, photos of the work, and a written estimate for the full removal of any standing remnant. You forward the invoice to your insurer as part of the open claim.

What we do not try to do in the first 24 hours: a full takedown of a split or partially-failed standing tree. That is a planned tree removal with proper rigging and usually a return visit. Stump grinding is always a second visit. Aesthetic pruning waits until the tree's recovery direction is obvious, which takes weeks.

What to do in the next 24 hours after the emergency is cleared

Once the immediate hazard is dealt with, the next 24 hours are about closing the loop. Confirm your insurance claim has an open file with a claim number. If you did not get one on the first call, call back. Adjusters lose track of claims that float without a number.

Get written quotes for the full removal or repair work. Most insurers want at least one written estimate before they release the rest of the funds. We provide that as a follow-up email after the emergency visit, with line items the adjuster can match against the policy.

Walk the rest of the property and check every other tree for hidden damage. Storms expose weakness in trees that did not fail. Look for cracked unions where two stems meet, lifted root plates (soil mounded up on one side of the trunk), or new lean that was not there last week. The next windy day finishes what this storm started.

That last one matters more than most homeowners realize. A post-storm walk-around with an arborist catches the trees that almost failed this time and will probably fail next time. If you serve Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, or Burlington, we can usually fit a post-storm site walk into the same visit as the cleanup.

The short version

If you are standing in the yard right now wondering what to do with a storm damaged tree, the order is simple: stay away from anything touching a wire. Photograph everything before moving it. Call the utility first if there is any line contact. File the insurance claim with photos. Then call a tree service for the actual work.

Get those four steps right in the first hour and the rest of the cleanup is just logistics. The mistakes that cost real money are almost always made in the first hour, before the homeowner has had a chance to think it through. This playbook exists so you do not have to think it through. You just follow it.