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Trees took a beating this week when an ice storm moved through Lawrence, and now it's cleanup time.

The storm gave local tree service businesses all the customers they could handle.

Rodger Wolfram -- like a lot of people -- was trying to remove the ice that covered everything. Wolfram, an employee of Pine Family Farms Grass & Grain, cut tree limbs at 1529 Ky. that covered a car.

"Most of the calls we've had have been near Massachusetts between 23rd and 19th," said Newton Mulford, owner of Mulford's Tree Service. "We've been getting limbs off of roofs."

No one knows how many trees were damaged in the storm, which began Tuesday evening and continued into Wednesday. But during the storm, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical units responded to dozens of reports of tree limbs falling onto power lines and in some cases starting small fires.

Trees have to rely on their own resiliency to survive ice storms, said Steve Hofmann, an employee at Clinton Parkway Nursery and Garden Store, 4900 Clinton Parkway. The business had received only one call Wednesday from someone worried about a birch tree weighted down by ice.

"We just suggested that they try to prop it up to where it was," Hofmann said. "There is not a whole lot you can really do. In a storm like this you just have to hope it can get through it."

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Birch trees are flexible enough to handle ice and snow loads, Hofmann said. Ice, however, can be especially damaging to trees such as Bradford pears, which have weak branches, he said.

If you have a tree down or large limb hanging from a tree in your yard, be careful, especially if you are going to try to cut it down and dispose of it yourself, Mulford said.

"Obviously, don't walk under it," he said. "Some people try to break the ice off and end up breaking the limb off."

If you are going to use a chain saw to cut down a limb, understand that a limb can snap, Mulford said.

"As long as you can see the dynamic forces of the branch, it shouldn't be a problem," he said.

To help Lawrence residents get rid of downed trees and limb remnants, the city's brush collection facility will open later this week to help area residents in their cleanup efforts following the recent ice and snow storms.

The city's Parks and Recreation and Public Works departments will operate the brush collection facility from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday through Wednesday. The facility is located at 1420 E. 11th St.

Residents may take tree limbs and brush to the facility free of charge. The material will be chipped and used as mulch throughout the city.

If residents can't get their tree material to the site, they can set it out on the curb on the day their trash is normally picked up. All tree material set out with the trash must be properly bundled. Bundles should not exceed five feet in length, 18 inches in diameter or 65 pounds in weight.