Assessing Post-Hurricane Landscape Damage- A Step-by-Step Guide for Homeowners

Assessing Post-Hurricane Landscape Damage: A Step-by-Step Guide for Homeowners
When a hurricane is headed your way, all you can think about is staying safe. You might be evacuated, which is scary and stressful. 

Then you get the all clear to return home, to see what shape your home and property are in.

Now what? Whoa.There’s a lot to survey. How do you tackle a storm damage assessment?

Check for big issues first, like big downed trees and structural damage. Clear storm debris so you can access your landscaping. Flush lawn saltwater damage with your irrigation system. Give plants time to bounce back. Take care with tattered palms. Know when to call in professionals. 

Let’s learn more about hurricane landscape damage, including: 

Check for the Big Stuff First

Clear Debris

How Wet is the Soil? 

Replace Nutrients That Were Washed Away 

Hurricane Landscape Damage to Plants? Give Them Time to Bounce Back

Care for Tattered Palms 

Check for Soil Erosion as Part of Landscape Damage

Assess Electrical Issues 

Leave It to the Pros 

1. Check for the Big Stuff First

Is there an oak tree laying across your roof? Or no roof at all? Broken windows?  
Hanging tree limbs that pose a hazard? 

Check any fences, sheds, and other landscape structures for damage. Broken posts? Warped wood? 

Check for big issues first that require immediate attention and help from professionals. 

2. Clear Debris

There might be storm damage debris everywhere — palm fronds, fallen branches, hunks of tree bark, assorted trash. 

You can’t assess any hurricane landscape damage until you can get to it. Remove downed branches, leaves, and other debris from your yard so you can get a clear view of damaged areas. 

Prioritize clearing large branches and debris that could obstruct pathways or damage your property. 

If you hope to hire a landscaping company to help with storm damage, know this: if you don’t have large debris like downed trees, you’ll have to be patient.

A company’s top priority is removing big trees. Homeowners with smaller debris often have to wait 2-3 weeks.

3. How Wet is the Soil? 

This might not seem like a top priority when it comes to storm damage assessment, but it is. If storm surge flooded your lawn with salt water, turn on your irrigation system right away, if possible, to start flushing out the salt. Then run it every day for two weeks.

The fresh water helps push the damaging salt water deeper into the soil, below the root line. 

Act fast, and this strategy might save you from replacing your entire lawn with new sod. 

4. Replace Nutrients That Were Washed Away 

All that water, either from storm surge or your extra irrigation efforts, flushed all the nutrients from the soil, so fertilizing is crucial to revive the lawn after storm damage. 

Tropical Gardens crews have been applying slow-release granular fertilizer to lawns that will last into the winter. 

One thing to note: if another storm is expected, hold off on the fertilizing. The nutrients will just get washed away.

5. Hurricane Landscape Damage to Plants? Give Them Time to Bounce Back

Inspect all your plants for broken stems, damaged leaves, or signs of disease.

Assessing hurricane damage to landscaping plants can be depressing. They look dead. So they’re dead, right? Not so fast.

Yes, many Sarasota plants and shrubs need replacing after hurricane damage. Lots of lovely jasmine and schefflera were doomed. 

But give plants a chance — they might surprise you and fight their way back to health. 

We’ve seen hibiscus, ‘Super Blue’ liriope and variegated screw pine miraculously survive hurricane landscape damage from salt water, but it took a while. Be patient. Your crotons, hibiscus and other leafy pals might surprise you and bounce back. 

Here’s a cool trick: Scratch a bit of bark off your damaged plants. If you see any green underneath,  be patient — there’s a chance of recovery. 

6. Care for Tattered Palms 

Your palm fronds might look frayed and tattered from hurricane landscape damage, but resist the urge to trim them off unless the entire frond is brown. 

Yes, they might look terrible, but here’s the thing: that spot where the frond attaches to the trunk is where the tree gets its nutrients. 
As long as there’s some green in the frond, it’s helping to feed your tree. Don’t cut it off. 

If your palm doesn’t get all the nutrients it needs, you’ll have long-term health issues like trunk constriction, when the trunk tapers or constricts, giving the tree an hourglass shape. 

Be Careful Who You Hire to Help
One Tropical Gardens customer was anxious to get his battered palms looking better after hurricane landscape damage so when a guy showed up and offered to trim all his palms for $500, he jumped at the chance. 

It seemed like a bargain, but the inexperienced “helper” cut all the tattered fronds off the palm trees. It’s doubtful they’ll recover. Now he’ll need to spend thousands of dollars to replace them.

It turns out the guy was from Oklahoma. How many palm trees do you think he’s seen?

Stick with local experienced landscaping professionals, even if you have to wait longer for expert storm damage assessment and assistance. 

7. Check for Soil Erosion as Part of Landscape Damage

Look for areas where topsoil and mulch have been washed away, creating uneven ground or exposing bare soil or roots.

Add topsoil and mulch where needed to prevent further damage. 

8. Assess Electrical Issues 

Have an electrician check all your electrical outlets that control your landscape lighting, irrigation system, pool pump and well pump. 

Flooding damages outdoor electrical outlets by allowing water to enter the outlet's internal components, which can cause corrosion on the metal parts, leading to potential short circuits, electrical sparks, and even fires.

You can help prevent this hazard by making sure your outdoor outlets aren’t installed too low. At Tropical Gardens we install outlets at eye level, not ground level,  so they’re not easily damaged by flooding.

It’s also a good idea to flush air conditioning units with fresh water to rinse out any lingering salt water after storm damage. 

9. Or Leave Storm Damage Assessment to the Pros

The aftermath of a destructive hurricane is overwhelming. When it comes to storm damage assessment and clean up, you can probably use a hand. 

Tropical Gardens lawn care and plant health care services include expert strategies designed to get your landscaping back to health after hurricane landscape damage. 

Give us a call or fill out our form today! Our team of Sarasota plant experts can’t wait to care for your landscape plants, keeping them happy, healthy and beautiful year round — even after the damaging effects of hurricanes.