Emergency Storm Tree Removal in Canton, OH

Emergency storm tree removal is the work that starts after a tree or a large limb has already come down on something: a roof, a garage, a car, a fence, a driveway or a back door. In Stark County that usually follows a summer thunderstorm, a wet spring snow, freezing rain, or a strong late-winter wind. In one March windstorm, gusts hit 62 mph at Akron-Canton Airport and about 17,000 electric customers in the county lost power. In a March 2019 storm, a large tree uprooted in Perry Township and fell on a duplex, blocking the front and back doors until help arrived.

First: is anyone in danger?

If a tree has come through the roof into a room, leave that part of the house. If a wire is down or tangled in the tree, stay well away from the wire and anything touching it, and call 911 or the utility. In Canton that is usually AEP Ohio, whose 24-hour line for hazards is 800-672-2231; parts of the county such as Massillon, Jackson Township and Alliance are served by Ohio Edison. No tree crew should cut a tree that is in contact with a live line.

What we do on a storm call

Once wires are cleared, the order is: get trees off the house and away from exits, open blocked driveways, then deal with hangers (broken limbs caught in the canopy that can fall without warning) and split trunks still standing. A tree resting on a roof is under tension and compression in ways that are hard to read, so it is taken off in a controlled sequence, often with ropes from above or a crane, rather than cut from the ground. After that, a tarp on the roof is your roofer's or insurer's call, and the cleanup and stump can follow on a calmer day.

Insurance and paperwork

Take photos before anything moves: the tree, where it landed, and the damage. Call your insurer early. This Old House notes standard homeowners policies typically cover trees that fall in a storm onto covered structures, but generally not the removal of healthy trees or neglected dead ones. We give you a written quote and an itemized invoice you can send to the adjuster.

Storm prep before the next one

Most storm failures we see in Canton come from trees that had warning signs: dead ash, old silver maples with decay, pears with tight splitting forks, or limbs already cracked. Removing or reducing those trees on a normal schedule costs less and is easier on the yard than an emergency call.