Palm Coast storm victims told some trees must be replaced

Published: Friday, December 20, 2013 at 3:37 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, December 20, 2013 at 3:47 p.m.

Less than 48 hours earlier, she and her teenage son were hunkered down in the utility room of their house while portions of the roof were being ripped off by a tornado.

On Monday, cleanup crews were carefully removing debris some of which was tangled with electrical wire from her property. Her backyard wasn't safe, her insurance company wasn't cooperating and she was coping as best she could.

She wasn't expecting a city official to drop by and tell her she needed to replace a couple trees in her yard that had been cut down by the storm. He handed her a tree-removal permit form with hand-written instructions about what kind of trees she needed one shade tree and one under story. She had six months to comply.

Verdone was flabbergasted.

I was like, 'Really? I mean, really?' I have so much I have to worry about and (the city) is concerned about my trees? she said.

As she talked about it more, her language got saltier.

Other residents complained the city had done the same to them. They said they were visited by Bill Butler, landscape architect for the city of Palm Coast.

What happened after the tornado was that the city sent several staff members out into the neighborhoods to assist homeowners with tree issues, city spokeswoman Cindi Lane wrote in an email. Instead of making the owners come to the city to get their tree-removal permits, we had (Mr.) Butler and other staff members go into the field called in to work on their day off to issue the permits on the spot.

The F1 tornado formed shortly before 7 p.m. Dec. 14 in Espanola, headed east for nine miles and cut through Palm Coast. It touched down in three neighborhoods and damaged at least 185 houses, according to the city. Damage estimates exceed $5.5 million.

Read more here:
Palm Coast storm victims told some trees must be replaced