BATON ROUGE - The combination of last year's drought and potential high winds from Francine could spell disaster for area trees. Scott Courtright with the Louisiana Tree Service says anytime there's a storm in the Gulf, panic sets in.

"We are getting inundated with calls right now. People want to have their trees checked out," Courtright said.

Particularly when you factor in the effects of last year's drought.

"Last year's drought had a profound impact on the tree canopy in Southeast Louisiana."

While the drought killed a lot of trees, he says your seemingly healthy-looking tree may also be in distress.

"A lot of those trees have died and those are easy to spot, but there are a lot of effects that are harder to spot, so the average person who isn't educated in arboriculture or trees, they see their tree and see green leaves and think everything is okay, that may not be the case — a little false sense of security."

That fact, coupled with this time of year, and potential hurricane-force winds, could spell disaster for your trees or property.

"This time of year we're seeing acorns and pecans and fruit starting to set on trees so the limbs are heavier than they would normally be."

Courtright says some of the storm-related anxiety can be soothed with regular tree inspections from a licensed arborist throughout the year, but if you haven't done that and are concerned about a tree on your property, call one now.

"If it is right now and you've got a tree you're worried about right now, certainly you can give an arborist a call to come out and take a look at that tree, they may be able to give you some knowledge and spot some things. I just don't know if anything can be done about that given only a couple of days before we have this hurricane make landfall."

He strongly advises against trimming trees if you've never done it before.

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