Abbeville family lucky 100-year-old oak tree falls on road

Jimmy Arnauld and his family loved the idea of living in the historical district in Abbeville, near the Vermilion River. They also loved living in an old home, surrounded by 100-year-old oak trees. Three weeks into their new rental home on Fairview Street, they may be having second thoughts about living near large trees.
Arnauld and his family elected to stay at home for Hurricane Delta. The Arnaulds were aware of their surroundings and were monitoring the trees around their home. Jimmy was on his back deck, watching the trees get whipped around when he saw electrical wires pulling away from his house. He knew something was not right.
He ran in the house and then heard the noise of a large oak tree that was right next to the house fall towards the road and pulled their electrical wire and the neighborhood’s wires to the ground.
“I heard it hit the ground,” said Arnauld. “I was not worried about the tree that fell. I was more worried about the tree behind the house. It kept twisting and blowing towards the house. We stayed outside to watch that one.”
The Arnaulds also had a bedroom window blow out due to strong winds.
“We made it, and we got by,” said Arnauld. “We were lucky.”
By daybreak, Jimmy began cutting branches off the tree to make it passable for vehicles on Fairview. Neighbors also joined in cutting tree limbs off the tree. By 10 a.m. Saturday, they had cut enough off the tree to let traffic pass.
On Sunday, the city came, and out-of-town electrical crews helped supply the manpower to cut and remove the tree off the road. It was completed Sunday evening, and the electricity was turned on.
Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said when a tree falls on the road, the city has 72 hours to clear the road. Because the tree was so large, the city hired contractors to remove the large branches and parts of the tree trunk that were on the road. By Sunday night, the contractors cleared the road.