Dangerous trees, falling limbs a concern in Chicago with more storms this week
A little over a week ago, a Chicago man was thankful to be unhurt after a tree fell on his car while he was driving in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood.
Now, a woman from the South Side's Auburn Gresham neighborhood is worried the same could happen to her. With windy weather expected in storms coming to the Chicago area on Friday, the homeowner said a tree that has been dropping branches near her house could come tumbling down at any moment.
The city is trying to get ahead of the threats to tall trees posed by gusty winds too.
Eliscia Chappell is quite fond of her Auburn Gresham community.
"The parks — there's parks close by," she said. "I love being close to the Metra."
Chappell also loves the mature trees on her block.
"If you look around, you see plenty of mature trees," she said.
Chappell pointed out three specific trees — one healthy, one declining, and one in bad shape. A huge branch fell from the last of those three trees this week.
"Seven-foot to eight-foot branches," Chappell said.
In March, another heavy tree branch came crashing down.
"Two weeks ago, I was out here putting in a window box, minutes before another fell right here," Chappell said.
It is safe to say Chappell and her neighbors do not feel safe at all.
"I'm concerned with my life, and the life of my family and neighbors," she said.
Despite contacting 311 repeatedly since January, Chappell could not get city crews to trim the tree on the public right-of-way. With strong winds expected on Friday night, she's worried about what could happen.
"It scares me," she said, "because these branches have been falling off consistently."
Across the city, folks are worried — especially given that falling tree branches have already caused problems within just the past couple of weeks.
On Monday, April 7, winds sent a tree crashing down onto Miguel Ares' car while he was driving at Leavitt and Lyndale streets in Bucktown.
"God was with me," he said. "I'm glad I didn't get hurt. Now I've got to get another car."
But residents like Chappell said they need the city, not a higher power, to monitor dangerous trees.
"It shouldn't take the news to get involved for the city to come out and maintain their trees," said Chappell.
Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Cole Stallard said despite branches falling, the most troublesome tree on Chappell's block is very much alive. In fact, he sent someone out to access it Wednesday afternoon, and said the city would be trimming as early as Friday.
Even sooner, on Thursday, city crews indeed came by to trim the tree Chappell was worried about.
Stallard said Streets and San has over 600,000 trees on the public way citywide. He added prior to 2023, the department relied mostly on 311 calls for trimming — averaging 30,000 trees a year.
Yet the department has now switched to a method called "area trimming" — which it describes a proactive practice rather than a reactive one. With area trimming, the department works with aldermanic wards to ensure it gets trees trimmed regardless of whether those trees were the subject of 311 complaints.
With area trimming, city crews are now trimming 90,000 trees annually.
Whatever the method, Chappell wants one thing.
"Just check to make sure that the trees are safe," she said.
Stallard said if there is any benefit to the strong winds this time of year, it is that the leaves on the trees are not yet allowing for the wind to blow through easily.
