Answered for McCordsville, Hancock County.
On February 27, 2023 an EF1 with estimated 110 mph winds touched down about three miles southeast of McCordsville at 1:28 p.m. ($200,000) and a second EF1 struck near Eden at 1:37 p.m. ($50,000) — roughly $250,000 combined. Hancock County has logged 23 tornadoes since 1950, including the April 3, 1974 Super Outbreak F3 and F4 pair, and was included in Gov. Braun's June 2026 disaster declaration. Tree-of-Heaven is one of the species that fails under that kind of load. Removing a tree-of-heaven around McCordsville runs roughly $400–$1,900, and in Bay Creek, Emerald Springs and Gateway Crossing access is usually what decides where in that range you land.
The canopy is almost entirely developer plantings on former corn and soybean ground, young enough that overall cover is thin compared with older Indianapolis suburbs; the genuinely large trees are leftovers — fencerow and creek-bottom hardwoods along Fall Creek and toward Geist, plus the yard trees around the 1865 village core. McCordsville was not in the Indiana DNR street tree sample and has no published inventory; note that Callery pear, heavily used in subdivisions of this vintage, was still legal to sell in Indiana as of 2026 despite a pending proposal to ban it.
McCordsville was platted in 1865 but only incorporated in 1988, and virtually all of its housing is newer than the millennium: 684 residents in 1990, 1,134 in 2000, 4,797 in 2010 and 8,503 in 2020. From that build-out pattern the typical McCordsville tree should be subdivision nursery stock planted since about 2003 — young-tree pruning, storm righting and warranty-era replacement rather than the large takedowns older suburbs need.
It rarely declines gradually; the notable exception is Verticillium wilt caused by V. nonalfalfae, which produces wilting, yellow vascular staining and dieback and can kill a tree within a single growing season. A tree-of-heaven suddenly wilting and defoliating in midsummer is far more likely wilt-killed than drought-stressed, and the standing dead stem turns brittle and unsafe to climb very quickly.
There is no general McCordsville permit for removing a tree on private property, and Indiana has no statewide requirement — but there is a reported exception worth checking before quoting a job: in platted tree conservation areas, any tree 6 inches DBH or larger is a "Protected Tree" and may not be removed unless it is dead, diseased or damaged, or removal is needed for a government safety requirement or specified infrastructure. That provision could not be verified against a retrievable copy of the code, so confirm it with the town. Many McCordsville subdivisions also have HOA covenants layered on top.
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Distance measured from McCordsville.