HANOVER COUNTY, Va. -- While Virginia will be spared the worst of Hurricane Ian as it tracks up the U.S., the Commonwealth is likely going to experience days of heavy rain that could have a significant impact on your property.
CBS 6 caught up with Warren Coffey, production sales manager for C.S. Flournoy Inc. tree service, as they thinned a tree at a home in Hanover County Wednesday afternoon.
"This is actually perfect timing for a tree like this," Coffey explained. "What the customer has us doing is opening the tree up, doing weight reduction on the tree, thinning it out, so the wind can kind of blow through the tree."
According to Flournoy, the trees that may cause the most damage in the heavy wind and rain are the ones that have the most foliage, not the ones that appear to be dead.
"They're the ones you worry about because the wind's going to grab them and start breaking branches, twisting them, a lot of them then come over, you know, completely uproot," Coffey said. "Dead ones, you may have a broken branch here and there that is going to fall off of them."
Right now, Coffey and his team are booking about a month out, but if you have an emergency situation he said they should be able to help.
"If you were in an emergency situation, yes," said Coffey. "If you had something that was in the heat of the moment that was starting to happen, yes, we can mobilize and get out there for you right away."
Before you get to that point, Coffey noted you need to be thinking about routine maintenance to trees on your property.
That includes walking around your yard and taking note of the condition of your trees. You should look at the bark, trunks, roots, branches and canopies to ensure you don’t see any obvious damage like root rot, bare foliage, leaning trunks, insecure branches or insect infestation.
If you have a small, ornamental tree that you notice may need to be trimmed, Coffey said you should be able to handle that yourself with a power saw, but for larger trees, you should try to schedule maintenance with a professional as soon as possible to protect yourself and your property.
"Every four to five years, have someone come out and do work on your tree, open them up, clean the deadwood out, inspect them," Coffey noted. "So you're always prepared, you're always ahead of the game."
