(Memphis) If you are tired of winter, think how folks in Midtown feel.
Many can’t even get down the street or to the front door because of trees that have cracked under the weight of ice and force of wind.
In Frayser, Keith Clark was trapped in his home and had to be rescued by firefighters when a tree came crashing in at about 3 a.m
“I heard a loud crackling sound and a big boom. I woke up to this big tree on the house and on the car,” said Clark.
Now he and many others are taking clean up into their own hands, trying to get up what mother nature left behind, some preferring the do-it-yourself approach instead of calling a tree service.
“No I’ll do it. They will be charging out the frame because everybody will be needing it. So I will do it myself,” said Dale Naron of Midtown.
Often homeowners are left to clean up the mess, but with a massive tree, it may require some professional help.
So when does the city obligation to clean up tree damage ends and yours as homeowner picks up?
Memphis Public Works officials say they take care of downed trees that are hazardous to drivers or pedestrians and are blocking the right of way.
Work crews were brought in around 3 Sunday, and as of noon Monday, they had received 80 calls and had responded to 30, and the list was still growing.
As they work to clear up hazards, homeowners bear down to pick up the pieces and hope the worst of this winter is over.
“It sucks, but it happens. Have to take it with a smile,” says Keith Clark.
Officials at Memphis Public Works say their crews will pick up tree debris of rate-paying customers who put it on the curb, but the limbs must be no longer than 13 inches wide and 5 feet long, so property owners may have to do some cutting.
