Our yard has been destroyed ....

Well .... I'm in absolute shock right now.

Last night there was a big electric storm. Our house is surrounded by huge maple trees, and there is one in our neighbour's yard. Well, during the storm, a branch was weakened and this morning .... I watched as this ENORMOUS branch about 60 feet long crashed to the the ground, stripping our Japanese lilac to toothpicks, crushing our swing, decimating our century old lilac and honeysuckle, digging itself into the ground and displacing and crushing all of our beautiful bushes and shrubs. Thankfully the flowers are all right. And thank God no one was sitting outside when it happened.

As of now we've had tree guys and cable guys look at all the damage, and estimates are around $8,000 to clean it all up. My neighbour is a very respected lady in the neighbourhood and Alice is 90 years old, and technically it is her fault, but we don't want to impose anything on her since she is a such a wonderful person and a great neighbour. So the other neighbours across the fence have decided to split the costs and hopefully get in touch with Alice's daughter to sort things out. They too have had some of the branch in their yard, but believe me, not as destructive as ours.

Wires are down but we still have electricity. I loved the seclusion of our yard, and considering that we had just redone it it seems a shame that we have to do it all over again .... It's just a horrible, surreal mess. I can't believe it ....

Pics soon.

Oh Emily, I'm so sorry to read this............these things are so unfortunate. Can't someone, your neighbor, turn it in to her home owners insurance??

Originally Posted by kittylover4ever

Oh Emily, I'm so sorry to read this............these things are so unfortunate. Can't someone, your neighbor, turn it in to her home owners insurance??

Click to expand...

Thats what I though too, what about homeowners insurance? I mean, how can it be her personal fault that it happened?

I hope you guys get it all straightened out soon, thats definately something you don't want to have to deal with, ever!

I think she meant she's at fault, just like when you rear-end somebody you're at fault. Obviously it's not like she went out an cut it down, although if it is a dead limb then it is totally her fault for not having it cut down. Since she's at fault, she has to pay for the damage.

Who cares if she's such a nice person? If she's as great as she sounds, you wouldn't even have to ask, she'd of come over as soon as she saw it to tell you she is turning in a claim to her insurance company. If the tree is in her property, it's her fault. My grandma's neighbor sued her for exactly the same thing.

I hope you can work everything out! That's so awful that all your hard work on the lawn was destroyed in a storm!

Wouldn't that be considered like an act of god? that should be covered right? No one cut the tree down on purpose.

See, that's why we need to contact her daughter. Alice lives alone (And has lived in the house for over sixty years) and we hardly see her. When it happened this morning I immediately went over to her place but she didn't answer the door, and knew that she would be out. She doesn't have a listed phone number, otherwise we would call her. The only thing we can do is talk to her in order to sort it all out. I know she will do everything she can to help us, but in her situation it's kind of difficult to do anything immediately. So we will just have to wait and see what comes. I'm actually going to try to see if she's home right now, and try to explain all of this to her. It's not her personal fault, it's an accident, and I know her well enough that she would be as devistated as we are.

So, I'm going over now. Wish me luck!

Good luck I hope you get this all figured out!

I'm questioning whether your neighbor is technically at fault. Her tree was hit by lightning, right? It isn't like it was rotten and a little wind knocked it down. Different rules may apply.

In any case, I'm sorry it happened to you. Thank God no one was hurt.

If the branch of her tree was over their yard, then it's her responsibility if it falls and damages their yard. Act of God or not.

Hope everything gets cleared up for you quickly!

That is such a shame. All that work distroyed so quickly. I noticed how powerful the winds were yesterday!
I hope your neighbour has up-to-date insurance. I agree with everyone else that she should be making a claim on her insurance.

I'm so sorry that this happened, especially for the disappointment you must be feeling.

I hope you are able to get things sorted out with your neighbour soon, and I'm very sorry to hear about all of your trees, bushes and shrubs (they sounded beautiful). If you are in my area (SW Ontario) it looks like a couple more days of wild weather is in store.

I don't know about all this. All I know is I am never going to plant a tree in my yard if it means that a storm blowing it down can cause me to be sued.
That seems to be like suing someone because someones car was blown on their house by a tornado. That's just wrong.
Hey I guess people are just sue happy.
Good thing there is a thing called insurance.


Anyway good luck and it sounds like you have a good neighborhood it's nice that your neighbors are willing to split the costs to help her.

This is taken from the spare bedroom, you can see just how *BIG* this branch is! You can see how close it came to the house.



The last shred of the Japanese Lilac ....



The branch came down so forcefully some of it dug up this flagstone. *gulp*



Cautiously walking along ....



The stump, which is about thirty feet up.




Quill surveying his destroyed realm of solitude ....



Even in all of this destruction, there is some hope. I couldn't believe my eyes when this beautiful golden dragonfly landed right in front of me long enough to take a few pictures.



-----

I'm so happy to hear that you're OK , and I'm so sorry about all of the damages that the branch did to your backyard

When we had the wind shear last sept our neighbor lost 34 trees. Insurance only covered the loss of two trees that fell on her house and storage shed. As my yard is extensively landscaped I questioned my insurance agent who informed me that replacement of any trees/shrubs due to storm damage ARE NOT COVERED. However since its your neighbor's tree perhaps she has property damage insurance as part of her homwowners insurance-its may not be enough to cover all the damage.
As for the tree you could advertise "free wood" to cut and haul away to reduce costs. Many people look for firewood this way.
Good luck and if you need landscaping advice-let me know!!