High winds put a tree through a home
EUGENE, Ore. — Fallen trees have been a big problem all over Eugene with the recent intense rain and wind bringing them down.
Residents of a condominium on Woodstone Place were quick to call roofing crews after a massive tree branch fell and split the roof in two. Neighbors say it happened fairly early Tuesday morning.
Eileen Ohno said once when she first heard the big crunching noise, she thought it was a sound from her television. Moments later, her neighbors were at her front door telling her what happened. Their unit received the brunt of the fallen tree and they had to move out to a motel.
“So that was about three or four o’clock this morning and of course there was no going back to bed,” Ohno said. “I just got dressed and tried to address the situation and see what I needed to do.”
Roofing crews were very shocked when they first arrived on scene. They say the damage only got worse when they were able to analyze it up close and personal. The fallen tree branch had completely collapsed a part of the roof. It broke drywall, and neighbors units were also damaged as tree limbs had pierced the ceilings.
“The tree split in a fork, and half the fork fell right onto the house,” Repairman Seth Morales said. “It lopped over and then came back and it split the house straight in half, down the back where there’s not even any tree.”
Crews said that if the weather keeps up its intensity they’re going to be very busy. Regarding the damaged building, they said the best they can do for now is tarp up the roof and prevent leaks.
Woodstone Place is not the only area affected by fallen trees. All over Eugene trees are proving to be quite the hazard. There have been a number of outages in town according to the Eugene Water and Electric Board. They also say that with the wind there’s a high risk of trees falling on power lines. EWEB says they are looking to fix these issues by the end of the day. Some repair crews say they expect to get more calls if the weather stays the same.
The repair crew at Woodstone Place said they don’t have an estimate on when the roof will be fully repaired.
“It’s not safe enough to stand near the tree,” Morales said. “The branches create a nice layer of easy to trip on stuff and if you step wrong you’ll roll your ankle or your foot will slip out from under you.”
One repairman said it would be ideal for a crane to show up and start lifting the fallen tree branch from the damaged building.