JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Lakeshore couple is lucky to be alive after a massive tree fell on their property and destroyed priceless belongings and condemned their home of three years.
Now, the homeowners are asking: Who’s responsible for the damage?
Property records show the tree sits on an easement connecting Lake Shore Boulevard and Cedarwood Roads. It’s unclear if the city owns the pathway.
The homeowners, Sarah Rohrer and Eric LeClair are now displaced and living in a hotel.
“I’m still in that grieving phase where I don’t know what I’m feeling yet. I’m still in shock. I just want to wake up and act like it never happened,” Rohrer said. “The foundation is completely demolished, like everything’s cracked. There are hairline cracks, if you were to go in the home, you would see it through all the walls.”
On Wednesday, Rohrer said she was at home when the first part of the tree fell onto her neighbor’s property, which has been vacant for the last few years.
That’s when they started packing their things.
“We were able to evacuate and in less than 24 hours it fell on our house. We called the city that day, that we knew it was gonna fall and nothing, nothing,” Rohrer said.
Neighbors on Lake Shore Boulevard told News4JAX their kids used to use the easement to get to Lake Shore Middle School. The path is clearly marked by two-chain link fences on either side.
Rohrer said she never saw the city come out to maintain it but sent multiple requests to code enforcement dating back to 2021 about the tree.
“We’ve made multiple attempts. We knew from the very beginning that it was going to fall due to all the rot on it,” Rohrer said. “This house means so much to us. It was our first home. We had a lot of great firsts here and a lot of great memories. All of this could have been avoided. All of it.”
Rohrer’s home was built back in the 1940s, and she said it’s going to have to be completely torn down. Even if they rebuild the home, she is upset about losing many of the historic touches she was fond of.
News4JAX has reached out to the city of Jacksonville for comment on this story but has yet to receive a response. We’ve also tried to get in touch with the homeowners of the vacant property.