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Fallen Trees Fill Scranton Streets

SCRANTON — The hill section in Scranton seems to be the hardest hit area of Lackawanna County in Tuesday’s storm. Folks we talked to said the storm ...

SCRANTON -- The hill section in Scranton seems to be the hardest hit area of Lackawanna County in Tuesday's storm. Folks we talked to said the storm and heavy winds were scary for about half an hour, bringing down a lot of trees like one at Nay Aug Park.

On Wednesday, the streets in the hill section were filled with tree service companies getting a start on the cleanup.

When the storm rolled through Harrison Avenue in Scranton, Timothy Kerber was at his back window watching two trees bending in the wind, sure one of them would fall.

"That's what's left of our gazebo, it was right there."

He was too preoccupied to notice what was happening at his front door: an old maple came crashing down narrowly missing his porch but causing damage to his neighbor's yard.

"Oh, it was loud. I actually thought it went onto the roof, but it didn't, fortunately," Kerber said.

Many people in Scranton's hill section had similar fates.

Some were not as fortunate. A tree fell on Amber Evart's brother's pickup truck before he even had a chance to move it.

"He was actually going to leave five to ten minutes prior to that to go get food. And within minutes it was, he couldn't get into the driver's side, that's how bad it was. The branch was completely down the side of his truck."

The truck got out but the big branch wasn't going anywhere on Madison Avenue. Much of the debris was too big to move.

Many homeowners called private tree services for help but they also had a lot on their plates.

"You keep on answering the telephone and there's trees on pools, trees on roofs, trees in the middle of the road, and trees on cars. So, you try to prioritize," said Justin Sariti of Better Tree Service.

Lifeguards at Nay Aug Park pool had a more enjoyable clean up job, skimming piles of blown leaves out of the water. At least, at this point, the sun was shining.

The cleanup is far from over in Scranton. There are still a lot of trees down on people's property.

Many people we spoke with were confused about how to go about removing fallen trees and what is covered by insurance.

You can find a list of tips from the state insurance department posted here.

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