Storm-Damaged Tree on Your Wichita Property: What To Do First

The storm comes through Wichita, you wait it out, and now there’s a tree across your driveway, on your roof, or leaning ominously toward the house. The next decisions you make matter — both for safety and for your insurance claim.

This is the order our licensed arborists recommend, drawn from what we see on hundreds of Kansas storm-damage calls every spring and summer.

1. Stay clear of every fallen tree near a power line

This is the single most important rule. A tree that has fallen on a power line, or has branches tangled with one, is an electrical hazard until Evergy says otherwise.

• Don’t touch the tree. Don’t touch anything touching the tree.
• Don’t approach it. Energized branches can shock you through the ground if you walk too close.
• Don’t try to move the line yourself. Don’t let kids or pets near it.
• Call Evergy’s outage line (800-383-1183) immediately and report it.

A tree service will not — and should not — touch a tree on a live line. We arrive after Evergy has de-energized and confirmed safe. If a tree service tells you they’ll handle it without involving the utility, find a different service immediately.

2. If the tree is on the house, get everyone out and assess from outside

A tree on a roof — even a glancing impact — can compromise structural members in ways that aren’t visible from the ground. Walk through the house briefly to:

• Get everyone out, including pets
• Take a quick look upstairs for ceiling damage, water intrusion, or missing roofline
• Shut off natural gas at the meter if you smell gas
• Shut off the main water valve if there’s any sign of plumbing damage upstairs

Then exit and don’t go back inside until a tree service or contractor has stabilized things or weather threats have passed.

3. Document before you touch anything

This is non-negotiable for insurance purposes. Walk the property with your phone and take:

• Wide shots showing the tree, the house, and the surroundings
• Mid-range shots of impact points (roof damage, crushed fence, broken window)
• Close-ups of the tree’s break point — was it a healthy break, an obvious rotten spot, or a clean uproot? This affects coverage in some claims.
• Photos of any items damaged by the fall (fence, vehicle, outbuilding)
• A short video walking the perimeter, narrating what you see

Save everything to cloud storage immediately. Phones get dropped. SD cards corrupt. The claim process can take weeks; your photos are your single best evidence.

4. Call your insurance company before authorizing any work

Most Kansas homeowners policies cover tree removal only when the tree damaged a covered structure, and even then the limit is usually $500–$1,500 per tree. Your agent will:

• Open a claim and assign a number
• Tell you whether immediate temporary repairs (tarp, board-up) are covered
• Authorize emergency tree removal if the tree is causing or threatening additional damage
• Send an adjuster — usually within 1–3 days for storm events

Don’t authorize permanent tree work before this conversation. Some companies will offer to “handle the insurance” and then file inflated claims that hurt your future premiums. Your insurer will name the companies they’ll work with directly or simply tell you to get 2–3 estimates and submit them.

5. Vet any tree service before you hire

After a major Wichita storm — and especially after tornadoes or large-hail events — out-of-state “storm chaser” tree crews follow the storm tracks into Kansas hoping to capitalize on stressed homeowners. They:

• Cold-canvass neighborhoods door-to-door
• Demand cash up front
• Quote prices that seem reasonable until the work starts
• Leave jobs half-finished
• Disappear before any warranty claims can be made

Real Wichita arborists rarely knock on doors — we have more inbound work than we can handle after big storms. To verify a tree service is legitimate:

1. Local Wichita area code (316) on the phone number
2. Physical Wichita business address that you can confirm on Google Maps
3. Current proof of liability insurance and workers’ comp — ask for certificates and verify they’re current; tree work is genuinely dangerous and uninsured crews can leave you holding the bag if a worker is injured on your property
4. Written estimates with line-item pricing for removal, hauling, and stump grinding
5. Customer references or recent local reviews with verifiable details (street names, neighborhood names, recognizable Wichita locations)

If anyone fails any of these checks, walk away. There’s no such thing as an emergency that justifies skipping verification.

6. Understand what counts as an emergency vs. routine

Storm tree work breaks into two categories with very different pricing and urgency:

Emergency (work needed within 24–48 hours):

• Tree on the house, garage, vehicle, or fence
• Tree blocking a driveway needed for medical access
• Tree against active power lines (only after utility de-energizes)
• Tree leaning against a structure with risk of further fall

Standard (can wait days or weeks for the right crew at the right price):

• Tree fully on the ground in the yard, not touching anything
• Tree partially uprooted but stable for now
• Major branches down but trunk intact
• Storm-damaged tree that can be saved with strategic pruning

Pushing standard work into the emergency category triples or quadruples the price. If your situation is genuinely standard, take the time to get 2–3 quotes.

How Wichita Tree Pro handles storm calls

Our arborists are ISA-certified and based in Wichita, which means our trucks are inside the metro within 30–45 minutes of dispatch — even immediately after major storms when out-of-area crews are still en route. We carry rigging, chainsaws, chippers, and bucket trucks; for the worst cases (large trees on multi-story homes), we coordinate with local crane services we’ve worked with for years.

For storm calls, we typically:

1. Arrive for free assessment within 24 hours of your call
2. Identify any electrical hazards and confirm Evergy clearance status
3. Provide a written estimate broken out into removal, hauling, and stump grinding
4. Coordinate directly with your insurance adjuster if helpful
5. Schedule emergency removal within 24–48 hours, standard removal within a week
6. Follow up with stump grinding 2–8 weeks later if you want it

We don’t door-knock, we don’t demand cash, and we provide certificates of insurance on request.

Typical Wichita storm-removal pricing

Rough ranges; specific quotes depend on tree size, access, and complexity:

• Emergency removal of small tree from structure (12–18” trunk): $850–$1,800
• Emergency removal of large tree from structure (24”+ trunk): $2,200–$4,500
• Standard removal of yard tree, no structure damage: $400–$1,500 depending on size
• Hauling and disposal: $150–$400 per truckload
• Stump grinding (residential): $100–$300 per stump

After major storm events, prices can spike 20–30% due to demand. Anything more than that is gouging — report price gouging to the Kansas Attorney General’s office.

Pre-storm prevention

Wichita’s storm season runs from late March through August. Before the next round:

1. Walk your property in early spring and identify any leaning trees, dead branches, or trees with visible decay (mushrooms growing on trunk, large hollow areas, bark falling off in sheets)
2. Schedule preventive pruning of any branches within 10 feet of the house, garage, or power lines from your service drop
3. Have hazard trees evaluated by a certified arborist — sometimes a $150 inspection saves you from a $5,000 emergency
4. Keep an updated photo inventory of mature trees on your property; helpful for both routine maintenance and potential insurance claims

Healthy, well-maintained trees survive Kansas storms remarkably well. Neglected or diseased trees are the ones we end up removing in pieces from rooftops in May.