Many Area Trees, Weakened By Storms, Pose Dangers
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - It's been more than two weeks since a storm rocked the Twin Cities. Thousands of trees fell, some of which are still lying down around the area.
But there may be some trees still standing tall that could be dangerous. This was made tragically obvious Friday when 56-year-old Nina Mackay from Eden Prairie was killed when a 90-year-old tree fell on her while she was out for a walk.
Keith Yetzer with Yetzer Tree Service in Maple Grove says even though his team's helped clear dozens of trees in the past few weeks, there are still some dangerous ones out there.
"After the storm we just had, I'd be concerned about all trees in general," Yetzer said. "If for any reason it was weak at all, now it's really weak."
Yetzer says in some cases, you can spot signs that a trees is weak from the outside, like carpenter ants around the bottom of the trunk, bad bark or holes animals can burrow into.
But those signs aren't always there.
"There could be damage right now, we don't really know. How could we really know without inspecting the tree?" he said.
He says arborists can make that call, and he suggests you call one if you have any trees that are more than 50 years old and close to your home.
A Minneapolis Park and Recreation spokesperson says they too are on the lookout for trees that could still topple over, and it's one of their top priorities right now.
