Emergency tree removal in Houston

Houston's electricity market is deregulated, so the company on your bill is a retailer, not the utility that owns the wires. Downed or sagging lines, and limbs on lines, go to CenterPoint Energy, which owns and maintains the poles and wires in the Houston area: 713-207-2222 or 800-332-7143. CenterPoint's guidance is to stay at least 35 feet from a downed line and treat it as energized.

A tree crew can't start on a tree that's tangled in a primary line until CenterPoint has made it safe. Service drops, the line from the pole to your house, are often the first thing a falling limb hits; that's still CenterPoint's call before anyone cuts.

This page covers a single tree that has just failed and needs to come off a house, car, driveway or line. After a hurricane or derecho, when many trees are down and the city runs storm-debris collection, the Houston storm damage guide covers triage, debris pickup and hiring when out-of-town crews arrive.

The City of Houston doesn't remove trees from private property, with one important exception: trees that grew in the street right-of-way. Urban Forestry maintains and removes right-of-way trees, and if one falls onto a house or vehicle, the city treats it as an emergency. File a "Remove Tree from City Park or Right-of-Way" request through 311, then call the Parks Urban Rangers at 832-395-7100 or ask the 311 operator to escalate.

If you're not sure where the tree grew, look at the stump or root plate: between the sidewalk and the curb is usually right-of-way. Photograph it before anyone moves anything. Don't pay a private company to remove a city tree without checking with the city first.

Many Houston tree emergencies happen on calm days. Water oaks, planted heavily in older neighborhoods, are relatively short-lived and develop decay as they age; big limbs and whole trees can fail without wind. Days of heavy rain saturate the clay soils and let trees with shallow or damaged roots tip over after the rain stops. Trees whose roots were cut for driveway, sidewalk or drainage work are the most likely to go.

These failures don't come with a city debris program the way a hurricane does. Expect to pay for hauling, and expect the crew to price the job like any emergency: after hours and on structures costs more.