JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Residents may notice more JEA workers in their neighborhood as crews work to prepare for hurricane season.
Crews are trimming trees around powerlines on Jacksonville's Westside in case of a storm. By doing this, they can prevent the amount of damage in tree-heavy neighborhoods.
Trimming branches now reduces the risk of downed trees and broken branches causing outages during storms later on. Adding this preventative helps the utility company and the health of trees, big and small.
JEA is urging everyone to take the time to clean up their yards now ahead of a tropical storm or hurricane warning.
“Once a storm is forecasted and it's on its way, municipalities, utilities, and even the private tree care industry starts going to set certain protocols. So, they won't be as available and we're now going to start putting attention towards more critical infrastructure," said JEA Utility Forester Joseph Anderson.
JEA only takes care of the trees in line with powerlines.
Anderson emphasizes that now is the time to start caring for your trees to avoid getting stuck on the waitlist of maintenance crews.
If you wait till the last minute, you run the risk of potentially getting scammed or not getting your trees treated. Therefore, potentially putting your home more at risk with the bigger potential of damages from a hurricane.
"I always like to get a local crew that's been here, a company that's local and been here for some quite time. Also, you want to make sure they're licensed and insured," Anderson added.
For additional questions about trees and utilities, you can reach out to the JEA Tree Care Line at (904) 665-6050 or jeatreecare@jea.com.