Righting Trees After Hurricane Milton: A Personal Story of Recovery

Hello, I’m Dennis, the owner of Wise Auto Tools. Today, I want to share a more personal story that goes beyond the tools and thread repair kits I typically cover here. Hurricane Milton recently made a direct hit in our area, Parrish, Florida, near Sarasota. The eye of the storm passed right over us, and for about 45 minutes to an hour, everything was eerily calm. But the damage had already been done. The wind going in the opposite direction after the eye passed finished the job.

Our roof lost some asphalt shingles, but the more heart-wrenching part was seeing two of our oak trees, which we had planted nine years ago, downed by the storm. These trees had been with us since we built our home. When we planted them, they were about six feet tall. Unfortunately, because the soil here stays very wet, the roots didn’t need to grow deep, which is why they were vulnerable to being knocked over.

After getting a quote for $1,800 just to have the trees cut and stacked by the curb (not including stump removal!), we decided to take matters into our own hands. With my trusty Nissan Pro4X and some 9,000 lb tow straps, we got both trees stood back up and propped. The props will likely need to stay in place for a couple of years, but that’s better than losing the trees altogether.

In this video, you can see the whole process. Without the four-wheel drive of my truck and some quick thinking, I’m not sure we would have managed. Letting some air out of the tires for extra traction certainly helped too. The golf cart was used to help prevent possibility of the trees from falling towards the truck if the final roots let loose when straightening.