Woodinville family narrowly avoids being killed by fallen tree

WOODINVILLE, Wash. — A family is lucky to be alive after a tree cut through the middle of their home during a windstorm.

“It was just a millisecond, and I took a step back, and everything came crashing down ... and it missed me by about a second,” said homeowner Carrie Byers.

By her own accounts, Byers is here today all because of a few inches of fate.

“I think Idaho heard me scream,” she joked, referring to how loud she screamed when a tree crashed through her home.  “I’ve never been so frightened and never had my life before me.”

Call it an unexpected “crash course.”

“(My neighbors) felt the impact and the shake all the way down — three houses down,” said Byers.

Heavy rain and strong winds had managed to topple a 100-year-old tree in Byers' backyard.

It was years of growth and a century of sturdiness that ripped open her ceiling.

“It flew me back because it was so impactful. It shook the whole house,” she told KIRO 7 News.

Making the incident all the more unexpected is that Byers and her husband recently had trees in their backyard inspected for possible danger, including the specific tree that came crashing down.

“We take down the trees that are dangerous, and then a totally live tree is the one that decides to fall on our house,” said Nolan Byers, who along with his wife, is now out of their home for at least the next several days.

Not only is there a giant gash in their bedroom, but bits of fiberglass are also now floating through every crease of their home.

Damage aside, nobody was hurt.

“We are very, very fortunate to be alive right now,” Carrie Byers said.

At the height of the storm that swept through Woodinville, winds gusts reached nearly 60 mph.

Cox Media Group