At a glance
- First to go: dead wood, weak limbs and anything hanging over a roof, yours or your neighbor's.
- Pecan, water oak, laurel oak and Chinese tallow sit in the lowest wind-resistance group in the Florida studies. Live oak sits in the highest.
- Near a line, TNMP wants trees kept 10 feet back, and state law sets six feet as the minimum gap for people and tools near high-voltage lines.
- HomeGuide's average for trimming one tree: $400 to $900 (checked Nov 14, 2026).
What should come off before a hurricane?
The county's guide names three things: dead wood, weak branches and overhanging branches. The guide's reason is the damage they could do, and it points out that the damage might land on your neighbor's property as easily as yours.
The reason the county prints that advice is in the storm record. When Hurricane Beryl came through on July 8, 2024, the National Weather Service reported that "Significant impacts were seen across the county with widespread tree damage," with fallen trees closing roads and damaging buildings in the City of Brazoria. The National Hurricane Center counted five deaths in Texas from trees blown down by Beryl's winds (both checked Nov 14, 2026).
In practice, that means walking the yard with three questions in mind:
- Which limbs are bare, brittle or carrying no leaves in season?
- Which limbs reach over the roof, the driveway, the fence line or the service drop?
- Is there a fork that's cracked, or a limb that's already sagging?
What the Florida hurricane studies found about pruning
The University of Florida's extension paper "Wind and Trees: Lessons Learned from Hurricanes" looked at how trees came through Florida hurricanes. It's Florida and Puerto Rico data, not Texas, so read it as a guide rather than a local measurement (checked Nov 14, 2026):
- Pruned trees survived better than unpruned trees: 73% against 47%.
- Trees standing in groups of five or more survived better than trees standing alone.
- After Hurricane Georges in Puerto Rico, survival rose with rooting space, from 64% for trees with 0 to 3 square meters to 91% for trees with more than 7.
- Trees in shallow soils are more likely to blow over; good soil depth, a deep water table and uncompacted soil help a tree resist wind.
- Roots should never be cut closer to the trunk than five times the trunk's diameter.
That last point matters when a driveway, fence or sidewalk is going in near a big tree. Careful trimming up top doesn't make up for roots cut too close below.
Live oak or pecan: which tree needs the closer look?
The same UF paper sorted trees by how well they stood up to hurricane winds (checked Nov 14, 2026). Most of the common yard trees around Angleton show up on it:
| Group | Trees |
|---|---|
| Highest | Live oak, sand live oak, southern magnolia |
| Medium-high | Sweetgum, river birch |
| Medium-low | Sycamore, hackberry and sugarberry, green ash, red maple |
| Lowest | Pecan, water oak, laurel oak, Chinese tallow, Bradford pear, Chinese elm, Washingtonia palm (queen palm, south Florida table) |
Pecan is one of Angleton's two heritage species, and water oak and laurel oak are both on Lake Jackson's approved planting list, so trees from the lowest row are both protected and planted here. If you have a pecan or water oak over the house, it's the one to look at first. A live oak's rating doesn't take it off the list: the county's advice on dead wood applies to every species. The live oak page covers what to watch on those.
Limbs touching the service drop or the street wires
Lines change who should be doing the cutting. Texas Health and Safety Code §752.004 bars bringing "any part of a tool, equipment, machine, or material within six feet of a high voltage overhead line" unless the danger is guarded against first, and §752.003 requires telling the line's operator "at least 48 hours before the work begins" (checked Nov 14, 2026).
- TNMP serves Angleton and Alvin on its Gulf Coast list. It "proactively prunes, and when appropriate, removes trees for electrical clearance," but "The customer is responsible for maintaining trees." Keep trees at least 10 feet from lines; if they're already closer, call 888-866-7456 to have them assessed or the service drop disconnected (checked Nov 14, 2026).
- CenterPoint Energy lists service centers for Lake Jackson, Clute, Freeport and Alvin. It says it "does not charge for typical tree trimming services performed on existing electrical facilities," and that a tree trimming company under contract with it does that work. Call 713-207-2222 or 1-800-332-7143 (checked Nov 14, 2026).
Your bill names your poles-and-wires company. Wood from utility trimming stays with you: TNMP says logs from its routine work are left on the property in manageable pieces.
Trimming palms in a coastal yard
Palms show up in the same Florida rankings: cabbage (sabal) palm is in the highest wind-resistance group, Washingtonia palm in the lowest, and queen palm is lowest in UF's south Florida table. Lake Jackson's approved list includes cabbage palm, California fan palm and Texas palm (checked Nov 14, 2026).
Palm owners should know about lethal bronzing. Texas A&M AgriLife says the disease kills a palm within about a year of the first symptoms, that its hosts include the Canary Island date palm (the one most often hit in Texas), the queen palm and Sabal palmetto, and that parts of neighboring Galveston County are under quarantine (Oct 2025; checked Nov 14, 2026). It has not been confirmed in Brazoria County. If a palm in your yard is declining, mention it when you send a request. HomeGuide puts palm trimming at $100 to $900.
Does trimming fall under the city tree rules?
Mostly not: the rules near Angleton are written about removing trees, mainly on development land. Angleton's Sec. 23-60 deals with removing heritage trees on plats and site plans for new development, and homesteads are excepted. Where Alvin's tree article applies (new subdivisions and commercial lots), it makes it unlawful to "remove, or to intentionally or with criminal negligence, damage" a listed tree without a permit (Sec. 15-109(a)). On a development lot in Alvin, a trimming job heavy enough to damage an oak or pecan could count. See the tree rules page.
What does trimming cost here?
HomeGuide's trimming bands by height: $250 to $700 at 30 feet or less, $600 to $1,200 between 30 and 60 feet, and $1,000 to $2,500-plus above that. Thumbtack quotes $60 to $80 an hour (both checked Nov 14, 2026). The cost page has the full tables. To have a tree looked at before the season, send a request and it's routed to a single independent contractor near Angleton.
Sources: CenterPoint service centers, Brazoria County 2025 disaster guide, NWS Houston/Galveston Beryl impact narratives, NHC Beryl report, UF/IFAS "Wind and Trees", Lake Jackson approved tree list, Health and Safety Code §752.004, §752.003, TNMP, CenterPoint fact sheet, AgriLife lethal bronzing, Alvin Ch. 15, Art. IX, HomeGuide trimming, Thumbtack. All checked Nov 14, 2026.