Winds smash tree into Mapleton home
MAPLETON, Ore. -- High winds caused a tree to split in half and smash into a nearby home, tearing through several parts of the roof. One member of the home narrowly missed being struck by a falling branch. Homeowners say they are just thankful nobody was hurt.
"If this is the first day of the year oh my gosh what is the rest going to be like?" Dee Whitten said. "I am still in shock."
Friday morning around 9:30 a.m. high winds caused a tree to split and fall on top of her Mapleton home.
"I heard this sound howling like a train was coming and I heard all these trees snap and then I heard them hit the house!" Whitten said.
Tree branches tore through the roof in the living room, destroying skylights and leaving a gaping hole. One long branch even stabbed through the bedroom ceiling just inches from where Dee Whitten was sitting on her bed. "I just covered my head as everything flew at me." Whitten said.
"There was tree everywhere," Orie Jenks, Whitten's mother said.
But within hours Whitten's family, neighbors and friends came to help clean up.
And as Whitten and her husband start the process of repairing theur home. They are thinking positively for the new year. "I am just glad everyone is ok...and we will just go from there I guess," Whitten added, "Wow, mother nature is amazing I can tell you that."
