Heavy Winds Send Tree Crashing Into Home In Delaware County
By Steve Patterson
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (CBS) -- Dangerously high winds sent a towering tree crashing on top of a home in Newtown Square, Delaware County overnight.
It happened around 1:30 a.m. Sunday at a home along the unit block of Spruce Street.
Police say the wind gusts of more than 50 miles per hour uprooted a large tree and knocked it on top of the roof, splitting the home in half.
A family member arrived to find the damage. His daughter and grandchildren were inside and he immediately thought the worse.
"Opening that door was horrifying. It was horrifying," Dennis Starr said. "I was expecting some death. I thought I lost my grandchildren to be quite honest. I thought my grandson was dead because when I first got in there he wasn't making a sound. I could see him coming out through branches and I grabbed him and picked him up and got him outside."
Miraculously, all four people inside escaped with just minor cuts and bruises.
"It just missed his bed by inches," Starr said. "My granddaughter was in my daughter's arms, she passed her up to me."
Police say the tree simply was too old to withstand the heavy wind.
Gusting winds may also be to blame for a tree tumbling down onto an apartment complex overnight in Northwest Philadelphia.
That incident happened just after 3 a.m. at the Falls Village Apartments in the 2900 block of West School House Lane in East Falls.
No one was injured.
