TACOMA, Wash. — Much of the Sound is preparing for the incoming severe weather, but a pair of Tacoma homeowners already felt Mother Nature’s wrath.
Friday night’s strong winds brought down a massive tree branch near Point Defiance, crushing three cars.
Thankfully, no one was injured.
“10:30, my wife was sitting in the kitchen and next thing I know, it’s like a bomb went off,” Anthony Guerra, whose tree fell, said. “I mean, literally.”
The falling tree narrowly missed the home and Guerra’s wife.
Guerra owns a construction company, but never thought he would have to call his crew in for emergency work at his own home.
“It was like a war zone,” he said.
The branch flattened his beloved Mini Cooper, crushed his wife’s SUV and punched holes in the roof of his box truck.
“We’re down to nothing,” Guerra said. “Bicycles, I guess.”
The branch also damaged his neighbor’s roof. Dealing with all that chaos well after business hours on a Friday night was a tall order.
“This morning, I was hoping I’d wake up and it was a nightmare,” Guerra said. “But after coffee, guess what? Reality comes and the tree is still sitting in my yard.”
Guerra estimates it caused around $100,000 worth of damage and is still working to figure out all the details with his insurance company. He is heartbroken, but glad he, his wife, and his neighbor were uninjured.
“You know, that’s the main thing, that my wife was okay. She didn’t want to sleep upstairs though, went to sleep in the basement. But I think we are good,” he said. “My main thing is next time there’s wind, don’t park your vehicles next to a tree.”