Strong winds send tree crashing into garage
Roeg Ewington is learning to live without her car for a while after gale-force winds sent a large, century-old tree crashing down on her garage, blocking the door.
But Ewington is looking on the bright side.
‘‘I thought, ‘ Wow.’ I was kind of in shock and I thought to myself, ‘Thank God I’ve got house insurance.’’’
The native tree – which was over 20 metres tall and more than one metre in diameter at its base – came down at Ewington’s home on Karina Rd, New Plymouth, during strong southerlies in the early hours of Tuesday.
Ewington said she did not hear the tree, which she believed could be more than 100 years old, fall, but a neighbour heard a loud
bang about 2.50am.
Ewington only became aware of the problem shortly after 6am.
‘‘I just happened to look out of the bathroom window and I thought, ‘Holy cow, is that my
garage?’,’’ she said.
As the timber fell it ripped branches off a neighbouring tree before tearing about a quarter of her garage away.
Looking at the devastation,
Ewington, , said she felt fortunate it had not been worse.
‘‘That was one of my first thoughts, ‘Oh well, there are others worse off than me’.’’
The impact snapped 150mm by 50mm of framing timber in the roof of her garage before the tree came to a rest delicately above her car, which was not damaged.
An ornamental Kingfisher on a fence was untouched.
‘‘Mother nature is not selective on what comes down and what stays up.’’
Ewington was now waiting for an insurance assessor to visit before deciding her next move.
She is now having to walk or catch the bus until the tree is removed and she can get to her car.
‘‘If you haven’t got your car, what is the alternative?’’