Man dies after tree branch hits power line in north Harris County

A man died after a tree branch he was cutting contacted a power line on Cahill Lane in north Harris County. Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman confirmed the fatal incident, which turned a routine yard job into a deadly electrical accident.

The case underscores the danger of trimming trees near overhead wires, where one wrong cut can send a branch into live lines and create an immediate risk of electrocution. CenterPoint’s safety guidance says trees and power lines are not compatible and warns that unmanaged trees can cause outages and electric safety hazards, with the potential for injury or death if they come into contact with energized equipment.

Residents are told not to try to remove tree limbs or any other object from power lines. If a tree is within 10 feet of a line, CenterPoint directs customers to call 713-207-2222 or 1-800-332-7143 to reach its forestry team. If a line is down, the utility says to call 911 without delay and report the hazard immediately.

CenterPoint says its tree trimming work is handled by professional crews under contract and follows American National Standards Institute A300 pruning standards, the utility trimming standard accepted by the National Arbor Day Foundation. The company’s own materials say the work is part of its daily operations to keep transmission and distribution lines clear.

In north Harris County, that message has to compete with a lot of do-it-yourself tree work, especially in neighborhoods where homeowners take on branches after storms or as part of regular property maintenance. Precinct 4’s public-facing pages steer residents to constituent support and disaster-recovery resources, while the detailed line-clearance instructions sit with the utility, a split that can leave the most important phone number out of reach when a branch shifts toward a wire. After the Cahill Lane death, the safest cut is the one homeowners never make near a power line.