On March 5, 2022 around 9:00 a.m., a huge, seemingly healthy oak tree fell on my mother's house. My mother was no longer living there having moved to a memory care facility a few months earlier. However, my daughter, Kat, was now living there. Fortunately, Kat had slept in a bit after staying up very late working on a school project. Otherwise, she would have been in the kitchen/dining area when the tree came crashing through the roof. She was awoken by the loud crashing noise and shaking of the house. She had no clue what had occurred. She thought the bookcase next to the dining table had fallen over. She walked into the kitchen to find a tree halfway into the kitchen. She called her dad and me in a tearful panic. I was concerned about the live wiring dangling about and instructed her to gather her animals and leave the house. We are about 20 minutes away but there is a volunteer fire department less than 5 minutes away, so I told her to call 911 to get the fire department to cut off the power to the house. This house was built in 1966. There was no main power switch to cut off the power. One had to remove two enormous fuses each about the size of a stick of dynamite from the breaker box in the basement. I did not want her trying to mess with that, of course. I want her to get herself, her dog, Ladybird, and her cat, Mr. Julian to outside to safety.
Of course, I had just replaced the roof and gutters only five months earlier as well as the flooring in the kitchen.
Ring Camera Footage of the Tree Falling
An arborist had examined all the trees just an year or so earlier. The tree was healthy but the roots were too shallow to support that enormous tree. It is hard to discern from this photo but the trunk was over 36" in diameter.
The ceiling of the bathroom next to the kitchen/dining area was damaged. Too bad, Kat worked very hard painting it that vibrant pink.
One of the branches pummeled a hole in the wall of the basement. There happened to be a old, but operational, gas stove that was tossed aside severing the gas line. Fortunately, the fire department disconnected the gas as well as the electricity avoiding an even worse disaster.
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