The high winds on Sunday led to lots of branches and debris to clean up on Monday.
Crews with City of Erie Street’s Department have been busy responding to calls to remove branches from the roads and the recent change in weather hasn’t helped conditions.
Jeff Gibbens, the Assistant Director of Public Works with the City of Erie said, “With wind storms and in this time of year, with the ground being wet and this freeze and thaw and it happens with the roots being soft that the ground is soft that they rip right out of the ground and so its an unfortunate time of year to have a wind storm. If it was in the middle of the summer then the ground is hard and dry in the streets that the trees won’t fall as much.”
It can be dangerous for crews to clean up the debris as high winds and rains can lead to more branches falling.
According to Gibbens, “Being safe around those areas and making sure everyone is paying attention, just things like that.”
It takes a lot of team work to make sure all the branches are debris is removed safely from the street. It often takes two or three trucks from the City of Erie to make it happen.
Just because a tree falls, doesn’t mean it’s the city’s responsibility to remove it.
According to Gibbens, “We only pick up the trees that fall in the street, so if the tree falls onto your property, it’s the homeowners responsibility. But if they fall into the city’s right away then the city will come and clean it up.”
When it comes to trees from the city falling on cars or homes, the city works with insurance companies and Penelec to make sure they can remove it safely.
As Gibbens explained, “Trees that fall into a city’s right away onto a car, we have to wait until an insurance company clears that and if it has wires in it we can’t remove the tree until Penelec says it’s clear and safe because the last thing we want to do is having somebody cutting up a tree and there’s an electric line in it and we are cutting it with a chain saw.
If someone believe a city tree has fallen, they can call the Erie Streets Department to remove it. People can call 814-870-1340.