An Aberdeen pensioner is scared the city council may never come and remove a huge tree that fell onto her shed in recent extreme weather.
Joyce Watt, who lives in Ashgrove, saw one of the thick pines from the path behind her home come crashing down during Storm Arwen at the end of last month.
It smashed a fence, left a garden bench in “smithereens” and came to rest on her shed roof.
Despite weeks of campaigning the local authority, no one from the council has yet come to scope out the work required to remove the trunk.
Fears council ‘not interested’ in tidying up tree brought down by Storm Arwen
“They aren’t interested,” the 82-year-old told Aberdeen Journals.
“I know the storm affected quite a lot of people but no one been out to see how it is lying and what it is affecting.
“We have a lot of things in our shed, including electrics, a lawnmower, and tools. And we can’t claim on our insurance as this was an act of God.
“The longer the trunk lies on our shed the more damage it will do as the sap gets into the roof.
“I have been looking at downsizing so had many possessions in the shed – who is going to want to buy a house with this in the garden?”
The tree is one of many lining nearby Back Hilton Road, separately by a path and a grassy verge from Mrs Watt’s terraced home in Gillespie Crescent, where she lives with her son.
At least two other trees along the row also came down in the storm, taking overhead lines with them.
Mrs Watt added: “It’s just lucky, however unfortunate for us, that the tree fell our way because if the wind had blown in the other direction it could well have maimed somebody as it came down.
“I’m aware there are people who suffered worse with the storms but it just feels like no one is interested in this area.
“How long is it going to stay there? Even if someone contacted us, I would feel more confident that they would get round to it eventually – but there hasn’t been a peep.”
Storm Arwen wrought damage and destruction of tens of thousands of trees
Thousands of trees came down across the Aberdeen – and tens of thousands more in the north-east – during Storm Arwen, which was quickly followed by Storm Barra.
Aberdeen City Council’s tree team will have its work cut out, with estimates severe damage at the leafy Hazlehead Crematorium could take up to six months to clear.
Distraught mourners have been left unable to find memorials under the debris.
In Aberdeenshire, at Haddo House alone, 100,000 trees are feared to have been lost in the devastation.
A city council spokeswoman dismissed claims Aberdeen arborists had been sent out to the country park, near Ellon, to help as they are very much needed in the Granite City.
She added: “We are aware of this tree in Mrs Watt’s garden.
“Unfortunately with the thousands of trees we have down across Aberdeen it is still not possible to give accurate timescales for the work required for all our trees however we are due to see to this one in the new year.”