Harris County Constable Precinct 4 deputies responded to an electrical injury call in the 13500 block of Cahill Lane in Cypress, near a neighborhood clubhouse, after a tree branch reportedly made contact with a power line while a 45-year-old man was cutting the tree. The man was hurt in the incident, and deputies asked people to steer clear of the immediate area while emergency medical crews worked the scene.
Officials initially used the word 'electrocuted' in their first report on the incident, a term that typically implies a fatality, as reported by Click2Houston. Harris County Constable Precinct 4 deputies later confirmed to the outlet that the man survived the shock, and that the branch striking the power line was based on preliminary information gathered at the scene. Deputies did not say what led the man to be cutting the tree in the first place.
Texas Law Sets Strict Buffer Zones Around Power Lines
Under Chapter 752 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, anyone planning tree trimming or other temporary work within 6 feet of a high-voltage overhead line must notify the line operator at least 48 hours in advance, according to FindLaw. Violating that statute is a criminal misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $100 to $1,000, up to a year in county jail, or both, on top of civil liability for any damage to utility infrastructure, per records reviewed by Fort Bend County. Federal OSHA rules separately require workers who aren't electrically qualified to keep at least 10 feet of clearance from lines carrying up to 50 kilovolts, according to OSHA.
Utility Warnings Highlight Local Voltage Risks
CenterPoint Energy, the electric transmission and distribution utility serving Cypress and the rest of Harris County, warns property owners never to trim trees within 10 feet of power lines themselves and instead offers forester consultations to evaluate hazardous branches, according to CenterPoint Energy. Residential overhead lines running through neighborhoods like the one on Cahill Lane typically carry between 4,000 and 35,000 volts, per Access Energy Cooperative. It is not known whether the tree in Wednesday's incident was near a distribution line at the upper or lower end of that range.
CenterPoint has expanded its vegetation management and tree-trimming programs across Harris County after facing increased regulatory scrutiny from the Public Utility Commission of Texas following Hurricane Beryl in 2024, as reported by The Texas Tribune. Hoodline reported on a separate incident tied to overhead line hazards in the area in a similar Cypress power line incident in December.
Tree Trimming Ranks Among the Deadliest Jobs Around Power Lines
Contact with overhead power lines accounts for 49 percent of all workplace electrical fatalities nationwide, the Electrical Safety Foundation International found in a report carried by GlobeNewswire. Electricity is also the leading cause of death in the tree care industry, accounting for about 15 percent of sector fatalities, with nearly half of those deaths resulting from indirect contact through branches or tools touching a line rather than direct contact, the same cooperative's safety materials note. Green wood and sap can conduct current directly to a person holding a saw or standing on a ladder.
A federal study of tree care fatalities found that 57 percent of worker deaths occurred at small operations with 10 or fewer employees, with electrocutions making up 14 percent of all tree care deaths nationwide, according to the CDC. Independent property owners and small crews often lack the specialized line-clearance equipment and training that major utilities use.
What Investigators Haven't Confirmed
It remains unclear whether the man cutting the tree on Cahill Lane was a homeowner or a hired contractor, and whether CenterPoint Energy had been notified in advance of any planned trimming near the line. The man's current medical condition also has not been disclosed beyond deputies' confirmation that he survived the shock.
