97-year-old Jacksonville woman waiting for tree to be moved off home

Pine tree falls on Northside home, another tree falls near garage during Irma

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 97-year-old woman who lives on Jacksonville's Northside is forced to wait for a large tree that fell on her house during Hurricane Irma to be removed. 

The pine tree fell on power lines, so Gladys Strucko has to wait for JEA to move it.

Strucko told News4Jax on Friday she's lived in her house since 1953 and never experienced storm damage quite like this. She said seeing the damage to her home for the first time after Irma was heartbreaking. 

“Devastating," Strucko said. "(I'm) just thankful I wasn’t home at the time.”

The strong winds forced the large tree to fall on Strucko’s house, and caused another large tree to fall next to her garage. The tree caused minor damage, and water leaked inside her house.

“I don’t know what damage it’s done to the roof because it’s laying up there now," Strucko said.

She said the trees were on her mind the whole time she was staying at her niece's house during the storm.

“I had visions, if it did fall, it would be a lot worse than it is, that it’d go through the roof and then the house," Strucko said. "So I was thankful that it wasn’t any worse than it is.”

Strucko said she’s hoping someone can remove the tree soon to erase the memory of Hurricane Irma.

News4Jax saw JEA trucks in Strucko's neighborhood early Friday evening, so she's hopeful that crews will be making their way to her home soon.


About the Author:

Corley Peel is a Texas native and Texas Tech graduate who covered big stories in Joplin, Missouri, Tulsa, Oklahoma and Jacksonville, Florida before returning to the Lone Star State. When not reporting, Corley enjoys hot yoga, Tech Football, and finding the best tacos in town.