When a Cape Town cold front comes through, trees fail. A gum drops a limb across the driveway, a pine starts leaning harder with every gust, or a whole tree comes down on the roof. Emergency tree removal is frightening because it arrives without warning, but the order in which you do things in the first hour makes a real difference to how safely it ends. This is the order we recommend.
If a tree is already down and you need help now, go straight to our storm damage and fallen tree clean-ups page, or WhatsApp a photo to 071 799 1993. Otherwise, read on.
1. Get everyone clear and stay clear
Move people, pets and cars well back from the tree, including anything it might reach if it shifts again. A fallen or split tree is not at rest. Limbs pinned under their own weight, a root plate that has partly lifted, or a broken branch hung up in the canopy can all move minutes or even days later, with no warning.
Do not walk under a hanging limb, and do not climb onto a roof or a car the tree is resting on to “have a look”. If someone is trapped or hurt, call emergency services first and let them manage the scene.
The same applies to a tree that is leaning but still standing. A new lean after heavy rain, with cracked or lifted soil on one side, means the roots are giving way. Treat the area it could fall into as off limits until it has been dealt with.
2. Check for power lines and call the electricity supplier
Look, from a distance, at whether the tree or any branch is touching an overhead line, the connection to your house, or a cable lying on the ground. If it is, treat every wire and everything touching it as live, including wet branches, fences and puddles nearby.
The first call goes to the electricity supplier, not a tree feller. In Cape Town that is either the City of Cape Town or Eskom, depending on your area: most metro homes buy power from the City, while some areas are supplied directly by Eskom. If you are not sure, check your electricity account or the prepaid token you buy. Report the fault and wait for the line to be made safe.
No tree crew should cut near a line that has not been switched off or cleared by the supplier. If a company offers to, that tells you something about how they work.
3. Photograph everything before anything is moved
From safe positions, take wide shots that show the whole tree and where it landed, then close-ups of every piece of damage: roof sheets or tiles, gutters, walls, fences, cars and paving. Photograph the base of the tree and the break or root plate too, because it shows how the tree failed.
Household policies commonly cover damage caused by a falling tree, and often the cost of removing it from the damaged structure. They rarely cover a tree that fell without hitting anything, or felling a standing tree before it fails. Phone your insurer early and ask whether they need an assessor to see the scene before clean-up starts. Keep the photos, our written quote and the invoice together for the claim.
If the tree came from next door, talk to your neighbour and both insurers. As a general rule, a healthy tree brought down by a storm is treated as an act of nature and each owner claims for their own damage, but the position can change if the tree was known to be dead or dangerous. Your insurer will advise on your policy.
4. Who to call for emergency tree removal
Once people are safe and any power lines have been reported, call a crew that does storm work with ropes and rigging. The quickest way to reach us is to WhatsApp a few photos and your address to 071 799 1993. The photos let our team see what is holding the tree up and come with the right rigging, saws and transport, which saves a second trip.
Urgent or after-hours work may cost more than a planned job, because the crew is working in difficult conditions and around a damaged structure. Either way, we agree the price with you before any work starts, so there are no surprises on the invoice. For a sense of what drives the cost of felling in general, see our tree felling prices guide.
While you wait, cover, do not cut. If rain is coming through a damaged roof, put a tarp over it only if you can do that without going near the tree. Otherwise leave it for the crew.
5. What our crew does when it arrives
An emergency job reverses the normal order of tree work. With a standing tree, the crew controls how it comes down. With a fallen or hung-up tree, the crew has to take the weight off without letting anything shift. So the first step is reading the scene: where the tree is bearing weight, which limbs are under tension, and what would move if a given piece were cut.
From there the team removes weight in a planned sequence, working from the outside of the crown inwards. Sections resting on a roof are rigged with ropes and lifted clear rather than rolled or dragged off, which is slower but protects what is left of the roof. Where a damaged tree must come down completely, it is taken down in sections by climbing and rigging, the same way we do a planned tree removal near buildings.
Once the hazard is gone, it becomes an ordinary clean-up: brush chipped, timber cut and loaded, access cleared and all the waste taken away as part of the job. If the stump is left in an awkward spot, our team can grind it out with stump removal at the same time or on a later visit.
Leaning, split and cracked trees: deal with them before the next front
Not every emergency is a tree on the ground. A split between two stems, a big dead limb over the house, or a tree that has started to lean are all failures in progress. A slight lean that has been there for years, with no soil movement, is often fine. A new lean after rain, with roots lifting, should come down before the next storm.
Most winter failures show warning signs in autumn: mushrooms or soft wood at the base, cracks where stems meet, dead wood over roofs and parking, and fast-growing gums, pines and poplars on sandy soil. Our article on the signs a tree is dangerous covers what to look for, and dealing with a risky tree on your own terms in the dry season is calmer for everyone than a call-out in the rain.
If a tree has come down or looks ready to, WhatsApp a photo and your address to 071 799 1993 or request a free site visit and written quote through our contact page.