Tree Fell on Your House in DeLand? 5 Steps to Take Now

If a tree just fell on your house in DeLand, do these five things in order: get everyone out of the affected rooms, stay far from any downed power lines, photograph everything before touching anything, get the roof tarped to stop water intrusion, and call an insured tree crew with rigging capability. Never climb on the roof yourself, and never let a bargain chainsaw crew up there either.

Step 1: Is the House Safe to Stay In?

The house is safe to stay in only if the tree is clear of the rooms you are using and nothing structural has moved. Clear the room under the strike first. If you see ceiling sag, new drywall cracks, doors that suddenly won't close, or any shifting, get everyone out of the house.

A trunk resting on a roof is not stable. It can shift, roll, or punch deeper through the decking without warning, so get people away from the impact zone before anyone thinks about the tree.

Two hazards outrank the tree itself. First, downed or sagging power lines. A service drop torn off the house by a falling limb can leave an energized line lying in wet grass. Treat every downed line as live, keep everyone well back, and report it to your power company (Duke Energy serves much of DeLand) before any crew starts work. Second, gas. If you smell gas anywhere in the house, leave immediately, don't flip switches or light anything, and call your gas provider and 911 from outside. A crushed roofline can shear vent stacks and appliance connections you can't see from the yard.

Step 2: Why Document Everything Before Any Work Starts?

Document everything before any work starts because the insurance adjuster reconstructs what happened from your photos and video. Once the scene is safe, shoot the tree, the roof, the interior damage, and the yard from several angles. A tree already cut up is much harder to claim than one on camera.

One point of confusion worth clearing up: in most cases, your own homeowner's policy is the one that responds when a tree lands on your house, even when the tree grew in your neighbor's yard. Liability generally shifts only in specific circumstances, such as a documented pre-existing hazard, so don't burn hours arguing over the fence line while water pours into your attic. File under your own policy, keep every photo and invoice, and let the insurers sort out the rest. For a full walkthrough of how claims, deductibles, and removal coverage work, read our guide to what Florida homeowners insurance covers for fallen tree removal.

Step 3: How Do You Stop Water From Pouring In?

Stop water from pouring in by getting the hole in the roof tarped, on the day of the strike whenever conditions allow. Often the tree, or part of it, has to come off the roof before a tarp can seal the breach, so tarping and tree removal are usually coordinated as one emergency response.

Water intrusion is the clock that is always running on a tree strike in Central Florida. A punctured roof in DeLand rarely gets a dry grace period: summer afternoon thunderstorms roll through almost daily from June into September, and hurricane season runs June through November. The tree does its damage in seconds; the rain that follows can soak insulation, drywall, flooring, and wiring for days if the hole stays open.

Document the damage first (Step 2), then get the roof covered. Your insurer expects you to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage, and a properly secured tarp is exactly that.

Step 4: Who Should Actually Take the Tree Off Your Roof?

A crew with rigging gear and proof of liability and workers' compensation coverage should take the tree off your roof. Not you, and not a door-knock chainsaw crew. A trunk lying on a structure is under load, and one wrong cut can kick the saw back or roll the log through what is left of the ceiling.

God's Country Tree Service LLC has been removing storm-fallen trees in DeLand since 2014, and this is the step where homeowners get hurt and houses get wrecked a second time. A tree on a structure cannot simply be chainsawed where it lies. Cut it in the wrong place and the released tension can drop thousands of pounds onto whatever is still holding the ceiling up. Getting a tree off a house safely means rigging and controlled lowering: the tree is dismantled in sections, and each piece is roped down or lifted clear instead of being dragged across shingles and gutters. Some jobs call for a crane.

That's why the crew you call matters more here than on any routine job. Our emergency tree service and storm cleanup uses controlled, roped lowering to take a tree apart piece by piece over the roofline, and our fallen tree removal and cleanup handles what is on the ground afterward. Never let an uninsured chainsaw crew onto your roof. If a worker gets hurt or the removal caves in more of the structure, an uninsured operator's mistake can become your financial problem. Ask any crew, ours included, for proof of liability insurance and workers' compensation before anyone climbs, no matter how convincing the door-knock pitch sounds after a storm. Our post on what to expect from an emergency tree service call in DeLand walks through the visit.

Step 5: What Happens After the Tree Comes Off?

After the tree comes off, the job moves to cleanup and to checking the trees still standing. Cleanup means bucking and hauling the trunk and limbs and raking out small debris so the yard is usable again. Then every nearby tree that went through the same storm deserves a look.

Cleanup can happen on the same visit or as a scheduled follow-up through our tree removal service, and most of our quotes include stump grinding and debris hauling.

Then look up. The storm that dropped one tree stressed every tree around it. Central Florida's laurel oaks and pines are the usual failures here: laurel oaks decay from the inside as they age, pines snap in sustained wind, and when a tropical system saturates DeLand's sandy soil, whole root plates lose their grip and mature trees uproot in gusts they'd normally shrug off. A neighboring oak that leaned through the same storm may be the next one on your roof. Learn the warning signs of a dangerous tree (new lean, heaving soil at the roots, cracked limbs hanging in the canopy) and have anything suspect evaluated for hazardous tree removal before the next system arrives. Better yet, get ahead of the season with hurricane-prep tree trimming so the June-through-November stretch finds your canopy thinned, balanced, and clear of the roof.

Tree on the House: Frequently Asked Questions

These four questions come up on most storm-damage calls in DeLand and Volusia County.