General Discussion

We weathered several direct hits from hurricanes and tropical storms with minimal damage, including a cat 4 with winds about 160mph. Those trees were what saved the house, they kept the worst of the wind off of us. Limbs would break but they rarely would come completely loose from the trees so we had to develop a solid relationship with a local tree company to help with clean up.
We sold that place about 5 years ago. I was playing on Google maps a few months ago and noticed that the folks we sold to have removed almost all the trees from that place. I'll check in on the old place when another storm visits and see how it does without the trees.
One of the biggest live oaks there was partially hollow and damaged at the base. We thought about having it removed but is was far enough away from the house so that it couldn't fall on us. And, the best part, there was a large colony of flying squirrels living in that old tree.
Now we live in the mountains. The property is forest mostly with several trees that could hit the house depending on which way the wind blows. I have a couple of them marked for firewood in the coming years but no plans to remove anything else except for damage or disease.