PEKIN, Ill. – A home in Pekin was heavily damaged if not destroyed by Thursday’s severe weather.
But the homeowner and his tenant say the damage was the city’s fault.
A tree fell on the home at the height of the severe weather; but, the tree in question is on the city’s property, and attempts to get the city to remove the tree have failed — including, he claims, the city removing the wrong tree.
“I was stunned when I came home. I sent them pictures and everything of the tree, which side of the house it was on, leaning over the house,” said renter Joe Hamblin, to 25 News. “I don’t know why they chose to cut that one down and not this one.”
The home is on Caroline Street in Pekin.
It’s a problem homeowner Scott Lockhart has tried to deal with for years.
“When the trees would sway in a storm, the concrete pads would raise and lower. So they came out and took up the concrete pad, ground off the roots, and then replace the concrete pad to make it level. But nothing was done with the tree,” said Lockhart, to 25 News.
Lockhart said his insurance company told him to make sure everything was documented, and he has.
No word from the City of Pekin, and it’s not clear what Hamblin will do now that his home is deemed uninhabitable.
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