SPRING LAKE, Mich. — (Grand Haven Tribune) - Diane McKeel said that it was a miracle the large branch that fell off her neighbor’s oak tree didn’t kill somebody.
The huge branch dropped off an ancient oak tree in the 200 block of South Lake Avenue between 5-6 a.m. Sunday.
“When that hit the truck it broke the limb in two. It saved us,” said David Blevins, who was sleeping with his wife in the camper parked in front of the pickup truck.
Neither he nor his wife was injured.
“It’s like someone had the camper in the air and dropped us,” he said of what they experienced that morning.
The Blevins backed the camper into the driveway a couple of days ago to visit his brother, Lowell Blevins.
“We were pulling out this morning,” David said on Sunday. “Now, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
David pointed out that a 3-4-inch-diameter branch had pierced their one-year-old camper, although only a few inches of it protruded into the camper.
“I’m thankful that the truck broke that limb,” he said.
The tree, located on the property next door has shed limbs and caused concerns before, according to homeowner Bethany Miltgen.
She said they had asked to have the large tree taken down a few years ago, and were told they could trim some branches, but couldn’t take down the tree because it was on village property.
The tree was located in the road right-of-way.
“So, we didn’t do anything,” Miltgen said.
David Blevins said his brother just paid $1,700 to have a similar sized tree taken down last week. That tree was directly in front of his brother’s house, approximately the same distance from the road as the tree that dropped its branch Sunday morning.
McKeel, a live-in caretaker for Lowell Blevins, said a large branch fell off the tree in front of the house just two weeks ago. She noted that it was a sunny day with no wind.
“A huge branch fell in our yard,” McKeel said in a letter she was planning to present to Spring Lake Village officials. “It literally sounded and felt like an earth quake. It shook the house, and it was a huge branch that fell and took down two smaller branches with it. Luckily it fell towards the house and just short of hitting it.”
McKeel said if the branch had fallen in the opposite direction, it would have fallen across the sidewalk that is often “full of kids walking to the ice cream store or going to school.”
The caretaker said she wanted to raise awareness and will be asking for notices to be placed along the sidewalks to warn people about the trees.
“This threat has been there for a long time but is now far more acute than ever,” McKeel said. “Stronger storms, heavier rains, ancient trees make this a public threat that people need to be fully aware of.”
Spring Lake Village Manager Chris Burns said the Village’s Tree Board was already scheduled to conduct their annual tree evaluation on Tuesday.
“Several weeks ago, the Village requested that property owners let us know if they have any trees that need evaluation or if they want a tree planted,” Burns said.
“Our DPW staff and our arborist also evaluate trees annually,” she said. “Some trees look perfectly healthy on the outside and have structural issues that are not visible to the naked eye.”
She urged residents to contact the Village if they suspect a tree in the Village right-of-way is dying.
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