We had a mid summer thunderstorm roll through about 2 AM which resulted in storm damage to the pool and a big box elder. This post shows the damage and resulting clean up.
Damage Assessment
When we went to bed, we were expecting a storm to roll though after midnight. They were predicting high winds and they were right. About 2 AM the storm rolled through. We first knew about it when Jae heard a big thump on the deck. We got up to investigate and discovered that a big planter had blown over on the deck.
There was nothing to be done at that time so we went back to bed. In the morning I did a walk around and discovered that two planters had actually blown over. It was pretty easy to stand them back up and put the flowers back into place.
Then I saw that the reel that holds the solar cover on the pool had blown into the pool. I usually had ropes in place that keeps the reel in place but apparently I had left one end untied. Here is the result.
From there I looked down the hill and saw that a huge limb had broken off of a big box elder. The limb was hung up on the tree, making it very dangerous.
Normally, I clean up the blow downs myself but this storm damage was too dangerous to deal up.
Cleanup
So, I had two things to clean up. First the pool cover reel and then the tree.
Pool Cover
This started with getting the reel out of the pool. That was not all that difficult. It is aluminum and more awkward than heavy. The problem was that the straps that attach the cover to the reel had been torn off on one side.
These I can fix. The straps have a tendency to degrade over time due to the sun so I have fixed them before. I had the parts and spent about an hour replacing straps.
Tree Work
Estimate
The cleanup of the box elder was beyond my capabilities so I called Golden Oak Tree Service. I have used them before and they are a local company. The representative came out to give me an estimate. I also had three other dead trees that I had been planning on having them remove so we included them. I decided to have them take down the entire box elder. Last year I had a big limb come off of it and just miss the new shed. There was obvious rot near the current break so it was just a matter of time before the whole tree failed. Due to the dangerous condition of the hung up limb they scheduled us for the following day. They arrived early the morning and got right to work.
Execution
They drove their lift down the hill and got to work on the oak and ash trees. While one guy was working in the lift to cut out the branches of an oak, the rest of the crew laid down sheets of plywood to protect the grass.
From there it was amazing to watch them work. The lift operator cut off branches, two guys on the ground piled branches while the fourth guy used a ditch witch with a grapple to haul the branches up to the street.
They cut down the oak, followed by an ash tree. They moved the lift and cut down another ash that was over hanging the fence. Then they moved up the hill and carefully removed the big box elder, starting with the hung up limb. Here is a photo gallery of the tree work.
Photo Gallery of Tree Work
After about six hours of work the trees were gone and everything was cleaned up. I still need to deal with the stumps but that can wait.
Summary
To wrap it up, we had some storm damage with some of it minor and some of it expensive. Everything is cleaned up.
