They came, they "sawed," they conquered: Tree trimmers crazy busy cleaning up from this week's storms

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Tree trimmers are crazy busy after the storms we've seen move through this week. A lot of trees fell down, and one tree trimmer tells FOX6 News each time it rains, he sees dollar signs.

Storms, some of them strong to severe, moved through southern Wisconsin this week -- beginning Monday night and into Tuesday morning, and again Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

More storms are expected on Thursday night into Friday morning.

The storms produced few smiles -- but Jake Trudell says it's exactly what AAA Tree Service needs.

"When it`s raining outside, I`m outside normally doing the rain dance and out there partying trying to get the storms to come. Money signs to me!" Trudell said.

Trudell says the demand for cleanup from those dealing with fallen branches or even trees has doubled the company's workload.

"We normally have about four or five jobs a day and this week so far, it`s been about eight to 10 jobs a day," Trudell said.

Perhaps the person happiest to see a tree taken down is Ruth Mrotek.

She says the tree in question was leaning toward her yard even before the storms, and she says she's talked about it with neighbors.

"He says `I don`t know about that tree that`s there.` He said `it looks like it`s on an angle,` and I said 'yeah, but what else can I do? It`s not my tree.' I can`t say `you gotta cut it,'" Mrotek said.

Trudell says pine trees are particularly vulnerable when strong storms push through.

"With the pine trees, the roots -- root base stay more on top of the ground. It`s more of a hazard of being uprooted and falling over," Trudell said.

Mrotek says she was happy to learn her neighbors were getting rid of the tipsy tree.

"He says `guess what? We`re gonna have it cut down.` And I said `oh good!'" Mrotek said.

That led to a call that Trudell and his crew were happy to take.

"The last few years haven`t been that great for storm damage and we make a lot of our business off of the storms and so far this year, the storms have been good to us at least," Trudell said.

Trudell says many trees that were damaged in the storms we saw this week were already vulnerable.

In a lot of cases, he says bugs like carpenter ants eat away at the inside of a tree -- leaving it hollow.

If you have a large tree in your yard, Trudell says it couldn't hurt to occasionally check it for hollow spots.