We are far enough inland that the storms reaching Jefferson County are usually past their worst, but wind and rain still do plenty of damage here, and our tree canopy makes it worse than a coastal wind speed would suggest. Big live oaks, water oaks and pecans over houses and driveways are the defining feature of yards around Monticello, and they are also the main hazard.
Before the season, not before the storm
The work that actually protects a property gets done in late spring, not the day a system enters the Gulf. By the time a storm is named, tree services are booked solid and you will not get on a schedule.
Have the trees looked at. Dead limbs, split crotches, leaning trunks and branches overhanging the roof are what cause the expensive damage. A qualified tree service should assess anything large enough to hit a structure. Water oaks in particular tend to hold dead wood and drop limbs.
Check the drainage. Our storms deliver rain in volume. Clogged gutters, blocked downspout outlets, low spots that pond against the foundation, and ditches choked with growth all turn a rain event into a water problem. Clearing them costs an afternoon.
Deal with the overgrowth. Fence lines and lot edges that have grown into a thicket become a debris field in a wind event. Bush hog work in late spring is a lot easier than picking that same material out of the yard in September.
The 48 hours before
Once a storm is genuinely on the way, the priority is anything that can become airborne.
- Bring in patio furniture, grills, planters, trash cans, umbrellas, bird feeders and yard decorations
- Secure or lay down anything too heavy to move indoors
- Clear the gutters and confirm downspouts are draining away from the house
- Mow the lawn if there is time, because you may not get to it again for a while and tall grass mats down badly under standing water
- Do not prune trees at the last minute — you will create a pile of loose limbs with nowhere to go
- Take photos of the property, including the trees and structures, for your insurance file
Skip fertilizing and any chemical application ahead of a heavy rain event. It will wash straight off, which wastes the product and sends it into the ditches and creeks.
Afterward: safety before tidiness
Nothing in a yard is worth an injury. Before you start clearing, walk the property and look up as well as down. Hanging limbs caught in a canopy are the single most dangerous thing on a post-storm property, and they come down without warning.
Treat every downed line as live. Do not touch limbs that are in contact with a power line, and do not assume a line lying in your yard is dead because your power is out.
If a large limb is under tension, bound up against something or bent, leave it. Cutting a limb under load releases that energy instantly and unpredictably. That is chainsaw work for someone who does it regularly, and the emergency room sees a steady stream of people who found that out the hard way.
Working through the cleanup
Sort as you go rather than making one giant pile. Woody debris, leaves and vegetation, and any building material or trash generally need to be separated, and county debris collection after a declared event usually has its own rules about how material must be stacked and where. Check what your county is asking for before you spend a day building the wrong kind of pile.
Get standing water off the lawn where you can. Warm-season turf will tolerate a short soaking, but grass sitting under water for days in our heat suffocates and dies, and disease follows fast in what is left.
What the lawn needs after a storm
Do not rush it. A lawn that has been flooded, covered in debris, or driven across by equipment needs time more than it needs product. Once it is clear and drying:
- Get debris off promptly so the grass underneath is not smothered
- Wait for the ground to firm up before mowing, or you will rut the whole yard
- Watch for disease over the following two to three weeks, because prolonged wet plus warm is exactly what brown patch and large patch want
- Hold off on fertilizer until the lawn is actively growing again
- Expect ruts, sand deposits and washed areas that will need repair once things settle
Know when to call
Anything requiring a chainsaw above shoulder height, anything near a power line, and anything involving a tree on a structure is not a homeowner job. Ground-level debris, limb dragging, lot clearing and getting the yard back to mowable is work we do routinely after storms across Jefferson County.
If a storm has left you with more than you want to deal with, get in touch and we will get the property cleared and back on schedule.