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Tree on your house in Little Rock: what to do first
The minutes after a tree hits a house are when people get hurt, usually by going back inside or pulling at branches. Here is the order that keeps everyone safe and your claim clean.
By Merle Shackelford, Tree Care Guides Editor · Updated October 2026
Short answer
If a tree lands on your Little Rock house, get everyone out of the rooms under it, stay away from any downed or touching wires and report them to Entergy, call 911 if anyone is hurt or the structure looks unstable, photograph the damage from a safe distance, then call a tree crew to lift the weight off before any roofer or tarp goes on.
First: get everyone clear
Leave the rooms beneath the impact and keep people and pets away from that side of the house. A tree resting on a roof is still moving: wind shifts it, rain adds weight, and framing that held for an hour can give later. Do not go into the attic to look.
If anyone is hurt, if you smell gas, or if walls are cracking or the roof is sagging, call 911 first. Everything else waits.
Second: look for wires before anything else
Trees that hit houses often bring down the service line or tangle with the lines on the street. Treat every wire as live. Stay at least a car length away and report it to Entergy. University of Arkansas extension guidance is clear that homeowners should never remove branches from utility lines themselves.
A tree crew cannot start until the line is safe, so reporting it early saves time.
Third: photograph from a safe distance
Take wide shots showing where the tree came from and what it hit, then closer shots of the roof, siding, gutters, fences and cars, all from the ground. Photograph the base of the tree too: roots pulled out of the ground or a trunk snapped low tell part of the story.
These photos matter more before anything moves. Once the tree is cut up, nobody can show exactly how it lay.
Tree on the house in Little Rock? The crew line is answered right now.
Call (501) 439-8373Fourth: call a tree crew to take the weight off
The order matters: the tree comes off before the roof is tarped or repaired. A crew rigs from the tree side, lifts or lowers sections off the roof so no more weight lands on it, and opens the driveway if it is blocked. A crane is sometimes the safest way to lift big sections clear.
In a big storm every crew is busy. A company that answers around the clock can at least give you an honest arrival window, and should tell you plainly if it cannot get there.
Fifth: call your insurer and your roofer
With photos in hand, call your insurer. Whether the damage is covered is their decision, not the tree company's, but clear photos and a record of what was done make the conversation easier. Once the tree is off, a roofer can see the real damage and tarp or repair it.
Keep receipts for the tree removal and any emergency tarping.
Why this happens more here
Central Arkansas gets both kinds of tree failure. When the March 31, 2023 tornado crossed Little Rock, surveyors found pines pulled out root ball and all while oaks snapped at the trunk. Ice does the same slowly: the December 2000 storms dropped limbs and trees across the metro and left many homes without power for a week.
The trees most likely to land on a house are the ones already leaning toward it, dead, or carrying long heavy limbs over the roof. Those are worth having looked at before the next storm season.
Related services
Services this guide touches on
Emergency Tree Removal
Tree on the House and more.
Need emergency tree removal?Storm Damage Cleanup
Hanging Broken Limbs and more.
See how storm damage cleanup worksCrane-Assisted Tree Removal
Tree Over a House or Pool and more.
Need crane-assisted tree removal?
Straight answers
Questions readers ask
Either order works, but photograph everything before the tree is moved.
Stay out of the rooms under it. If the structure looks unstable, leave and call 911.
Stay back and report it to Entergy. No one should cut until the line is safe.
That is between the owners and their insurers. Photographs help either way.
No. The weight comes off first; then the roof can be tarped.
It depends on the storm. You should get an honest window on the phone.
Usually later, as a separate job, once the emergency is over.
Tree on your house right now?
Call the crew line. It is answered 24 hours a day. Tell us what the tree is resting on and whether any wire is involved.