Central Florida does not need a direct hit to lose trees. Summer thunderstorms snap limbs every year, and a hurricane passing through the middle of the state can drop oaks across whole neighborhoods in Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties. Storm damage tree removal is a different job from a planned removal: the wood is broken and under tension, the ground is soft, and there are more people offering to help than there are good crews.
Tree Service Orlando FL does not do storm cleanup. It is a free phone line. Call (689) 407-5379, describe the damage to the automated assistant, and your call is transferred to an independent, locally owned tree service company that works in your area. That company sees the damage, quotes its own price and does the work.
Storms that have hit the Orlando area
These are not the only storms to bring down trees here, but they are the ones the official reports tie directly to the Orlando area.
| Storm | When | What the official record says |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane Charley | Night of August 13, 2004 | The National Hurricane Center says the center passed near Kissimmee and Orlando. Orlando International Airport recorded sustained winds of 69 knots, about 79 mph, with a gust of 91 knots, about 105 mph. |
| Hurricane Irma | September 11, 2017 | The hurricane center reports minor to moderate damage to many structures and widespread tree damage across central Florida, with about 4,000 structures damaged in Osceola County. |
| Hurricane Ian | September 28 to 29, 2022 | Rainfall of 10 to 20 inches caused major flooding along the Little Wekiva River and Shingle Creek, among others, affecting Seminole, Orange, Lake and Osceola counties. An estimated 4,100 structures were damaged in Osceola County and 1,656 in Seminole County. |
| Hurricane Milton | October 9 to 10, 2024 | The National Weather Service recorded gusts of 55 to 75 mph across Orange County, locally as high as 87 mph, with 4 to 8 inches of rain. Seminole County saw gusts locally to 84 mph, and Lake County reported numerous downed trees and power lines. |
Notice the pattern. Charley was a wind storm that moved fast. Ian and Milton brought heavy rain as well as wind, and rain changes how trees fail.
Why trees go over in wet, sandy soil
The University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences studied tree damage after a series of hurricanes. Its researchers note that a slower moving storm with a lot of rain means more water in the soil and less friction between roots and soil to hold trees up. Much of the Orlando area sits on sandy soil, and a tree with a shallow root plate in soaked sand can tip over whole, roots and all.
The same UF/IFAS work ranks species. Live oak, sand live oak and sabal palm, Florida's cabbage palm, rank among the most wind resistant. Laurel oak and water oak, both common shade trees in older Orlando neighborhoods, rank among the least. Trees with little room for roots fared worse, and pruning helped: after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, survival was 73% for pruned trees compared with 47% for unpruned trees in the species studied.
The three kinds of storm damage, and what each one needs
Describe which of these you see when you call. It tells the company what equipment and how many people to bring.
Hangers
Broken limbs caught up in the canopy. They look stable and are not. A crew removes them from a bucket truck or by climbing a sound part of the tree, and lowers them on ropes. Keep everyone out from under them until then.
Split trunks
A crack running down from a fork where two main stems meet. Tight V-shaped forks are a common weak point. A split trunk is under tension, so the cuts have to be planned to keep the halves from springing apart. Most are removals.
Uprooted and leaning trees
A tree that went over whole, or one now leaning with the soil heaved up on one side. Fully fallen trees are often simpler to cut up. A partly tipped tree in soft ground is one of the more dangerous jobs after a storm.
Post-storm scams and Florida's price gouging law
After a big storm, people you have never dealt with may knock on the door offering to cut and haul. Some are honest crews. Some are not. A few Florida laws are worth knowing before you agree to anything:
- Price gouging. Florida Statute 501.160 applies to goods and services during a declared state of emergency. A price is treated as unconscionable when it shows a gross disparity from the average price in the 30 days before the declaration, unless the increase comes from the seller's own added costs or wider market trends. You can report suspected gouging to the Florida Attorney General.
- Business tax receipt. The same statute makes it a second degree misdemeanor for anyone without a business tax receipt to offer goods and services to the public during a declared emergency. Ask to see one.
- Assignment of benefits. Under Florida Statute 627.7152, a post-loss assignment of benefits under a residential property policy issued on or after January 1, 2023 is void. Be wary of anyone who asks you to sign over your insurance claim.
Common sense covers the rest. Do not pay the full price before work starts, get the scope and price in writing, and ask the company's insurance agent to send you its certificates of general liability and workers' compensation coverage directly.
Insurance after a storm, in short
The Florida Department of Financial Services advises documenting emergency repairs needed to prevent more damage, keeping receipts and the damaged property where possible, and taking photos and video before and after repairs. Florida Statute 627.70132 gives you one year from the date of loss to give notice of a new or reopened claim and 18 months for a supplemental claim. Whether removal of a fallen tree is covered depends on what it hit and on your policy's limits. Read the who pays for tree removal guide before you sign anything, and call the Department of Financial Services Insurance Consumer Helpline at 1-877-693-5236 if your insurer stalls.
Curbside storm debris pickup: what the counties have required
Each county announces its own rules after each storm. These are the rules published after Ian and Milton, so check your county's notice before you build a pile.
Separate and place it right
- Orange County asked residents to separate storm debris by type: vegetation, large appliances and other household items.
- Seminole County wanted two distinct piles, vegetative and construction debris, kept off streets, sidewalks and storm drains and away from hydrants and mailboxes.
- Osceola County said construction debris must be kept apart from yard debris between the sidewalk and street, and mixed piles would not be collected.
What may be left behind
- After Ian, Seminole County would not collect green or recently trimmed vegetation, because FEMA audits debris sites for new material.
- After Milton, Orange County's storm drop-off sites took loose vegetative debris only and barred contractors and commercial companies.
- Seminole County asked residents not to bag vegetative storm debris in plastic.
The practical upshot: wood a tree company cuts from a standing tree may not count as storm debris. When you get a quote, ask whether it includes hauling. The tree debris removal page covers hauling options.
When to call, and what to say
Call as soon as the weather has cleared and the roads are safe, even if you expect to wait, so your job is on a company's list early. Tell the assistant whether anything is on the house, a car, a pool cage or a line, whether a limb is hanging, and whether the tree is still moving. If a power line is involved, report it to your utility first: OUC at (407) 423-9018 in the City of Orlando and St. Cloud, or Duke Energy at (800) 228-8485 across much of the rest of the region. For a tree that is on the house right now, see emergency tree removal. To get ahead of next season, the hurricane tree prep guide covers what to have checked before June.
Check the company yourself. Florida has no state license for tree trimming or removal, so ask the company for a certificate of general liability and workers' compensation insurance, and for the ISA certification number of its arborist. You can confirm a certification with the ISA's credential lookup (opens in a new tab).
Storm damage in the yard or on the house? Call and describe it. The company you are put through to looks at the damage and gives you a price before work starts.
Related services
Storm cleanup usually involves more than one of these.
Emergency Tree Removal (24/7)
A tree on the house, the car or across the driveway. What to do in the first hour and how emergency removal is handled and priced.
Crane Tree Removal
When a crane is the safest way to take a big tree over a house or pool, how a crane job is planned, and why it can cost less overall.
Tree Debris Removal and Hauling
Hauling limbs, logs and storm debris, what curbside pickup will and will not take, and when you need a crew.
Arborist Tree Assessment
A certified arborist's look at a tree's health and risk, what the visit costs, and the written report Florida's tree law relies on.
How a storm cleanup call works
- Call any hourAn automated assistant answers (689) 407-5379 and asks what kind of tree work you need.
- Describe the jobGive your name, a callback number, your city or ZIP and what the tree is doing, including anything on a roof, a car or a line.
- Get put throughThe call goes to an independent, locally owned tree service company, which hears a short summary before it picks up.
- Deal with them directlyThat company looks at the tree, quotes, does the work and is paid by you. If it cannot answer, it gets your details to call back.
How this line works: Tree Service Orlando FL is a free phone line, not a tree service company. It does not trim, remove, quote or schedule tree work and holds no license or arborist certification. Calls are transferred to independent, locally owned tree service companies in the Orlando area. Those companies may pay Tree Service Orlando FL a referral fee. You never pay the line. How it works.
The line takes storm calls from across the Orlando area:
- All Orlando-area service areas
- Orlando
- Kissimmee
- St. Cloud
- Clermont
- Winter Garden
- Ocoee
- Apopka
- Winter Park
- Altamonte Springs
- Longwood
- Lake Mary
- Sanford
- Oviedo
- DeLand