HOUSTON – Houston homeowner Kelly Carroll is struggling to get a tree that damaged her property after the derecho last year, removed from her neighborhood.
The tree is located on an easement outside of her property in the Independence Heights neighborhood, but caused significant damage to her fence and shed.
In May 2024, she called Houston’s 311 but has been waiting for answers.
“At this point, I don’t know what to do, but I know that the storm is coming,” Carroll said.
Carroll said she has fixed the damages to her personal property but is concerned they will get damaged again, especially with hurricane season underway.
“That is now rotten tree,” Carroll said. “This could potentially crush our shed again, destroy our fence again."
KPRC 2 reached out to the city of Houston to ask what’s going on.
The city gave us data, which shows there were two cases filed for Carroll.
The first was filed May 2024 and closed August 2024. The data shows the situation was resolved after the storm waste management picked up debris.
Carroll emailed the city in December 2024, letting them know the tree had never been removed.
The city emailed her back that the case was closed because the forestry department had created a work order for the tree removal.
Most recently, Carroll said the city opened another case in May, but it was resolved Monday because “the tree of concern resides on private property.”
The city’s park and recreation department sent KPRC 2 a statement:
“The tree in question is in an alleyway between 819 E 37th Street and 820 E 38th Street. This alleyway is not open for public use, as it is blocked by private fencing at both ends and has not been accepted by the City for maintenance. As such, the responsibility for tree removal falls to the abutting property owners.”
“I just need help,“ Carroll said. ”How can we get this taken care of before storm season comes again and jeopardizes our property once again?
