APOPKA, Fla. – It’s not unusual to see extremely large trees in many older Apopka neighborhoods. Rhonda Jones has several in her yard.
Friday morning, she woke up to a shocking sight, a large tree snapped, laying on top of both of her cars, crushing them and blocking her driveway.
“I went out to the front door, opened it, and I was in shock,” said Jones. “I almost passed out. I screamed out.”
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Jones called the power company who came out and checked the lines and made sure there were no live wires tangled in the broken tree branches. But she still had to deal with the giant tree branch on top of her cars, blocking the path to her door.
When News 6 arrived at Jones’ home, she was still upset and confused. Orange County Fire Rescue arrived moments later.
While the firefighters were removing part of the old tree, Jones was not having any luck on the phone with her insurance company.
News 6 helped her verify the serious damage that we were videotaping.
“Did you know that because of you, the insurance people said they are going to help? After they told me ‘Too bad, that’s not our problem’,” Jones told News 6. “I said ‘Well, I’m here with Channel 6 and ya’ll said you’re not gonna help me’”.
The insurance company eventually agreed to help, and Jones was very grateful to News 6.
“I didn’t do it, you did it, Channel 6 did it. You and God and for that, I will say ‘thank you’”.
Firefighters said the beautiful large trees appeared to have dry rot from old age. Crews removed as much as possible, but a crane would need to remove the rest because it was so big and heavy.
If you are a homeowner with large trees near your home, you are reminded to keep them trimmed or cut them down if they are too old. You’ll also want to avoid branches from falling on your home in high winds, rain, or simply being weak from old age.
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