COCONUT GROVE, FLA. (WSVN) - Residents of a Coconut Grove neighborhood woke up to find at least one damaged vehicle and a mangled fence after a large tree fell to the ground.
The huge trunk toppled onto the street along the 3100 block of Mary Street, at around 6:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Surveillance video captured the moment the tree fell, causing a big mess.
7News cameras captured a Ford SUV with damage to the rear.
Area resident Jeff Stone told 7News he saw this coming.
“This has been an issue for, originally, about 10 years now,” he said.
Stone, who asked not to show his face on camera, said the issue has been a large tree hanging over the street, adding that part of it fell in 2013.
“It’s not safe for our property,” he said.
Stone said he has reached out to city leaders asking for help. In an email from June of 2024, he wrote, “We are very concerned about the safety hazard this tree poses.”
“They basically turned to us and said, ‘You’re the homeowner, it’s on your property,’ but in this case, we also have [a Florida Power & Light] pole,” Stone told 7News. “FPL tells us, ‘You can’t do anything because you are going to impact the FPL pole,’ so it’s combination of everybody.”
This combination means nothing is getting done, according to Stone.
“The reality is, in Coconut Grove, people like to protect the trees, terrific, but there’s hurricanes, and you have to play both sides of it,” he said.
The tree that fell apparently shares a root system with another large trunk that for now is still standing.
If something isn’t done soon, Stone suspects, this tree located next to the one that fell will be the next to go.
“If you look at the root structure, it’s definitely a when it happens, not an if,” he said.
Area residents said an assistant for Miami City Commissioner Damian Pardo, who represents the area where the trees are located, was in their neighborhood Sunday.
Sunday evening, Pardo provided 7News with a statement that reads in part:
“These trees are on private property, and as such, gives us no jurisdiction for action. That said, we do our best to educate residents through our office, leveraging city resources, including our tree giveaways, which are a tremendous educational opportunity. As far as what can be done to prevent these occurrences, aside from education, we have been discussing with Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade, providing financial assistance for low-resourced residents to trim trees on private property. We have funded some pilot programs that have worked well and are considering expanding the program. We work hard to protect, preserve and grow the tree canopy in our district, and we certainly want to provide as much support as possible to residents on all issues involving trees.”
The trunk that fell was removed from the street and placed in a driveway. It will have to be removed at some point, and neighbors fear, when that happens, it will make the tree next to it unstable and closer to coming down.
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