BRADENTON, Fla. — Roughly five homes in Sunset Village Mobile Home Park were damaged after a large tree fell on Thursday.
- Homes in Sunset Village Mobile Home Park damaged
- Residents: Tree has been a problem since 2017
- Property working on plan to remove tree without causing more damage
- More Manatee County stories
While power has been cut to the homes, some residents are choosing to stay, stating that they have nowhere else to go.
“You can see everything hanging down, the branches and everything,” said resident Bob Norman, pointing to a tree branch lodged in his ceiling.
Norman said he was laying in bed Thursday when he heard a transformer blow and the tree fall. He said it landed just a few inches from his face.
Across the street, Danielle Brant and her daughter slept in their car on Thursday night.
“It’s inhumane if you ask me, they’re not treating this as an emergency, and it’s very well an emergency. People have no power,” she said.
On Friday morning, a handful of tree removal companies came by to survey the damage. By late Friday, work had not begun.
The mobile home park’s property manager stated they were working on a plan to safety remove the tree. They declined to comment further.
Residents say the tree has been a problem since 2017, when a storm split it in half. Brant stated they have been trying to get the mobile home park’s owner to remove the tree.
Dan Gunderman had his home completely destroyed. He said the falling rain Friday came through his roof and ruined many of his possessions.
“We knew it was going to fall eventually but it was a relief that I wasn’t in there and my kids weren’t in there,” he said.
According to emergency management officials in Manatee County, the owner of the mobile home park is responsible for clearing the tree from the roadways.
After that, it's up to the individual home owners to clear branches from their homes and fix damage.