Virginia Beach, Va. - Tree crews were on the move today, slicing up a big tree that fell and caused quite a mess at a home off of Holly Point Road in Virginia Beach.
"It was rainy and pretty windy and you could hear it howling," said Neil Kunzler.
Kunzler was home Tuesday night when strong storms rolled through, knocking down a tree from his neighbor's yard into his own, narrowly missing his wife's car.
"I could see that car and see that the branches were around it, not on it. And so I thought, okay I lucked out. A branch fell out of a tree. I didn't realize that the entire tree had fallen at first," said Kunzler.
It wasn't until he walked outside his home that he saw how much damage was done, after strong winds caused the tree to fall, smashing two other cars in his yard and damaging a nearby fence.
"These trees have survived hurricanes, but in this case, that one was rotten enough the wind got a hold of it and took it out," said Kunzler.
There are many old trees in the Virginia Beach area. Some even hollow inside. But with so much wet weather we've seen this year, it's adding to the problem for a lot of our trees - being prone to flooding.
Tom Carroll of Poor Folks Tree Service is a certified arborist. He says if we see more heavy rain and strong winds this spring storm season, many older, weak-rooted trees could fall in the area.
"Whenever you have heavy rain, of course it's going to soften the ground. If you have heavy wind, you'll have more potential for a tree to blow over, especially if you have a full crown of foliage. It's still early in the year. The trees aren't fully foliated, so the more foliage, the more wind resistance and the more hazardous if you have a heavy rain," said Carroll.
Kunzler is thankful no one was hurt from Tuesday night's storms. But now he is taking a closer look at the trees around his home to make sure this doesn't happen again.
