Jason Johnston and his family were sleeping Tuesday night while storms raged outside.
“We heard the rain coming, the wind coming, ” says Jason. “Shortly thereafter, you heard a huge thud and the whole house just shook and stuff fell off the walls and ceiling.”
A large maple tree in their front yard fell on the house, right above the children’s bedroom. No one was hurt.
This isn’t the first time the neighborhood surrounding Lakewood on the Green golf course has been hit by a storm. Several years ago, straight line winds destroyed several trees and properties in the area.
“Almost exactly the same time of year, three years ago, this whole neighborhood and a lot of West Cadillac got creamed by a pretty significant straight line wind event,” says Jason. “And we lost 15 to 20 trees on the property.”
Jason says the damage isn’t too severe. The roof has a few holes from branches breaking through. The Johnstons were the only ones in their neighborhood to have this much damage after the storm.
“I think it’s like Mother Nature’s way of telling me I should have taken down my Christmas lights or something,” he says, laughing.
Removing the tree and patching the holes in the ceiling are only part of the problem with possibility of severe storms Wednesday.
The maple tree that fell on the house has two trunks and only one fell down.
Fargo’s Tree Service came to remove the fallen tree and did an assessment on the remaining trunk. They say the tree is weak from rotting.
“That’s caused from years of water running down in between this doubletree,” says Spencer Youmans of Fargo’s Tree Service.
The whole tree was removed as a precaution. Youmans says to get your trees checked for rot or disease every year.
© 2023 - 910 Media Group
