A 400 year-old tree destroyed part of a family home when it was uprooted by Storm Eunice as the residents had a lucky escape.
Dominic Good, 57, was working from home in Stondon Massey, near Brentwood in Essex, on Friday morning when he was interrupted by an “almighty crash”.
Working in different rooms were his wife Emma, son Sven, 23, and his son’s girlfriend Anna Parnanen. Their dog was also in the house.
Mr Good, a father-of-two, said it was “very lucky” no-one was injured after the tree fell through the roof of the detached house that has been in his family for several generations.
He said: “A big gust just snapped the base of the massive oak tree in our garden, that is probably around 400 years old.
“The whole tree fell on the north-west corner of the house and the roof took the brunt of it.
“The roof is pretty much destroyed, and my son and my daughter’s bedrooms are completely filled with rubble.”
A Mazda MX5 car belonging to Sven was severely damaged by the oak tree’s falling branches.
Sven was working in the room on the top floor of the house when the tree came through the roof and adjoining wall.
He told Sky News he heard a “creak and then a massive bang and the whole house just shuddered”.
Sven added: “I could feel the whole roof going above me. It was absolutely terrifying.”
His father said that Sven had “grabbed his laptop and grabbed the dog and ran out of the room.”
Following the incident, the family had spent the night in the house – but they are uncertain whether they can stay once the tree is removed.
Mr Good said: “We spent the rest of Friday trying to salvage stuff out of the rooms but everything is covered in dust and rubble and was just a general mess.
“I think probably once they remove the tree from the house they will have to knock down quite a large part of the house and rebuild it.
“We will just have to speak to the insurance company and take it from there.”
The Good family said they had expected to see some damage to their house in the storm but “never” something so severe as the tree damaging crashing through their roof.
Storm Eunice has killed at least four people in the UK and Ireland as a result of storm, said to be one of the worst since the ‘Great Storm’ of 1987.
