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Tree Fell on Your House in Macon? Here's Exactly What to Do (and What Not to Do)

Published 2026-04-22 · Emergency · Storm Damage · By the Macon Tree Removal Pros crew

If a tree just came through your roof, you don't have time to read a long article. Here's the short version, in order, with the longer explanation underneath each step.

If anyone is hurt, you smell gas, there's fire, or there are downed power lines — call 911 first. Always. The rest of this guide assumes that part is handled.

The first 5 minutes: get safe

The biggest mistake we see from homeowners after a tree falls is getting too close to the damage too fast. A tree that's already done its damage might still be moving — leaning further into the roof, shifting on a partially failed root plate, or holding a heavy limb that's about to drop. Until you know it's stable, treat the whole area like a hazard zone.

  • Get everyone (people and pets) away from the room or area where the tree is in contact with the structure.
  • If the tree is on or near the roof above a bedroom, stay out of that bedroom — even if the ceiling looks fine. Drywall holds up surprisingly well right until it doesn't.
  • Don't go up onto the roof to look at it. Don't go into the attic. Don't try to push or pull on the tree. We deal with this every storm season — let us.
  • If the tree took out a power line on the way down, assume the line is live until Georgia Power says otherwise. Don't touch the tree, the wire, or anything metal that's near them.

The first 30 minutes: document and call

Once you're safe and you've called 911 if needed, the next priorities are documenting what happened and getting the right people on the way.

Take photos. Lots of them.

Your insurance adjuster is going to want to see this, and they prefer to see it before anything has been moved. Walk a wide perimeter and shoot:

  • Wide-angle shots that show the whole tree, the structure it's on, and the surroundings.
  • Close-ups of every point of contact — where the tree meets the roof, siding, windows, gutter, etc.
  • The base of the tree, including the root plate if it's lifted out of the ground (this matters for cause-of-failure questions).
  • Anything inside the house that's wet, broken, or covered in debris — light fixtures, furniture, drywall.
  • Photos of the weather conditions if the storm is still going (lightning, hail, rain).

If your phone has a date-stamp feature on photos, turn it on. Otherwise just don't reset your phone's clock.

Open a homeowner's insurance claim.

Call your carrier — most have 24-hour claim lines. They'll open a claim, give you a claim number, and probably ask you to get a tree-removal estimate. You can do that part by calling us. (More on insurance below, and we have a full guide on how homeowner's insurance handles emergency tree removal in Macon.)

Call us.

(478) 249-3898. We answer 24/7. Tell us:

  • Where the tree is (on the house? on a car? blocking the driveway?)
  • Roughly how big it is (estimate the diameter at the base — pine, oak, sweetgum, etc., if you know).
  • Whether anyone is hurt, whether you smell gas, whether power lines are involved.
  • Whether you've been able to reach Georgia Power yet (if there's a line down).

We'll give you a realistic ETA. During severe storm events when many trees are down at once, that ETA might be longer than usual — we'd rather be honest than have you waiting on the porch wondering where we are.

The first 4 hours: stabilize

What happens between when you call and when the crew arrives matters. Here's what to think about:

  • Don't run gas appliances if you don't know whether the tree damaged the gas line. If you smell gas at all, get out and call your utility's emergency line.
  • Shut off the water main if there's interior water damage and you can't tell whether plumbing is compromised.
  • Cover open holes if you can do it safely from the ground — a tarp held down with sandbags or 2x4s. If you can't reach safely, leave it for our crew.
  • Move valuables out of the wet area. Books, electronics, photos.
  • Don't sign anything from a contractor who shows up uninvited. Major storm events bring in out-of-area "storm chasers." They're not who you want.

What we do when we get there

Emergency tree response isn't the same as a scheduled removal. The first job is stabilization — making sure the situation doesn't get worse — then careful removal once it's safe. A typical Macon-area emergency response goes like this:

  1. Walk-around: a crew leader assesses the situation, identifies hazards, and confirms the plan.
  2. Stabilize: tarp open holes, brace anything that's moving, chunk-down weight that's still pressing dangerously on the structure.
  3. Remove the tree: usually rigged-down in pieces with ropes. We protect what's left of the structure as we go.
  4. Clear debris: branches chipped, trunk hauled (unless you want firewood).
  5. Document: itemized invoice, before/during/after photos, scope-of-work — everything your insurance adjuster will ask for.

What insurance typically covers (the short version)

For Macon-area homeowners, standard policies usually cover tree-removal costs when the tree damaged a covered structure — house, garage, fence, or vehicle. Common coverage:

  • Removing the tree from the damaged structure.
  • Repairing damage to the structure itself.
  • Often a per-tree limit ($500–$1,000 is common in Georgia policies) for the tree-removal portion, with structural repair handled separately.

What insurance typically won't cover: a tree that fell harmlessly into the yard (no covered structure damaged), or a tree that fell because it was visibly dead and the homeowner had been warned about it. For full details, read our insurance guide.

One more thing: future-proofing

Once the immediate crisis is dealt with, it's worth taking 30 minutes to look at the rest of your trees with fresh eyes. The conditions that brought one tree down often weakened others. Things we look for in a post-storm assessment:

  • Other leaners or trees with cracked unions.
  • Visible root plate movement (bulging soil, raised earth on one side of the trunk).
  • Heavy laterals over the house, driveway, or vehicles.
  • Dead or dying trees that hadn't seemed urgent before.

We do post-storm tree assessments at a flat hourly rate — usually a much cheaper conversation than another emergency call.

And — most importantly — call us if any of this happens. (478) 249-3898, 24/7.

#Emergency#Storm Damage