A family from Hopkins Landing is counting their blessings this week after three Douglas fir trees – each measuring about 80 feet (25 metres) in height – fell on their home on Friday, Feb. 5.
The fir trees were downed at about 9:30 p.m. that evening by winds that hit gusts of up to 57 km/h in the area.
All three trees had very shallow root systems and were pulled up together, roots and all, and fell crashing onto the A-frame home where Dominique Hutchinson’s husband Scot and 17-year-old daughter Audree were watching television in the loft.
“They were sitting up there and then suddenly they heard this tremendous rattle,” Hutchinson said. “They thought it was an earthquake or very, very loud thunder. But then it kept on lasting and then suddenly that’s when my daughter said, ‘Dad, something hit the roof.’”
Scot went outside to see what had happened and found one tree lying across the family’s car, one on the ground and one still on the roof.
“Luckily we have a very solid roof. There was some damage everywhere, but it didn’t collapse. It was just plain luck that it didn’t collapse,” Hutchinson said.
The car didn’t fare as well.
“Our car was crushed. The roof was caved in. The doors were damaged. The hood was damaged and the windshield broke,” Hutchinson said.
The family’s insurance adjusters are now involved in assessing the damage and arranging the appropriate repairs. And while there is reason to feel melancholy about the situation, Hutchinson said her family is looking on the bright side this week.
“There are three things that came out of this. One is that nobody got hurt, thank goodness. Two is that now we’re going to get more sun in the back, and three, it gave us a whole bunch of exercise for the weekend,” she said.
The Hutchinsons weren’t the only family in the area to have a close call that night.
The wind brought down a large cedar at the home of Lee and Sharon Selmes.
“I’ve never felt wind like that, ever,” said Lee Selmes of the 10-minute gust. “It was coming from a weird direction, too. It sounded like a freight train coming through.”
Selmes said the tree hit his truck and slammed into the roof of their home above their son’s bedroom. “A six-foot branch pierced the ceiling,” he added, “and landed about two feet away from the bed.”
According to Selmes, the insurance adjusters they’ve been working with say they’ve seen a lot of claims for storm damage from that night.
“Thank God everyone was safe. A little damage to the house and a write-off on the truck – we’ll take that any day,” he said.
– With files from Sean Eckford
