Hurricane Irma left 800,000 people without power and 80% of that was caused by vegetation and trees hitting power lines. Broward Commissioners have passed a tree ordinance aimed at preventing widespread outages in the future. The new law requires homeowners in the Broward Municipal Services District to maintain trees that are already planted and prohibits planting new trees near power lines. Broward County will survey the unincorporated area and collaborate with FPL to remove or trim trees threatening power lines. Homeowners will not be charged if they allow maintenance or removal of identified trees on their property.
