Woman injured after tree falls on Suffolk home

SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A woman was injured after a tree fell on her home during storms Tuesday night.

According to Suffolk Fire & Rescue, crews responded to Burnetts Way around 6:10 p.m., after a line of storms began to roll through the area.

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The first unit arrived and found a large tree had fallen on a home and neighbors tell 10 On Your Side, that at that time, a woman they identified as “Margaret” was still inside.

She was taken to the hospital with “serious” injuries, according to Suffolk Fire & Rescue. However later, the family confirmed she suffered mostly from cuts and bruises.

However, her home — which is considered a manufactured home — was heavily damaged.

10 On Your Side spoke with a man named Tony, who identified himself as Margaret’s son.

He said the tree fell before the rain even moved in and that this is actually the second time this home was hit by a tree since his mother has owned it.

He said she just got out of the hospital last week from an operation. He was outside when the old tree fell.

The trunk, which was clearly visible from the front yard, appeared rotten out and hollow.

Across the street, Marie Reid was out back concerned about her trees and home when she heard first responders arrive at her neighbor’s house.

“I was like oh my gosh what’s going on with the lady that’s inside the house? And I got really scared. I walked across the street to find out what was going on and I know she sits there and it was very scary,” Reid said.

Although the tree fell before the worst of the winds picked up, some neighbors said they were surprised by the strength of the winds Tuesday night.

“I see this dust storm over here, all this dust, I’m wondering what’s going on, and when I get, by the time I got to my driveway here, everything was here, the wind was… I could barely come out of there, brother. Felt like it was going 50, 60 miles or better. So it was a really rough storm, but to move that tree, as big as that tree is… That’s a good solid tree there,” said John Water, a neighbor.

Some neighbors said they will be saving their pennies to get trees removed after seeing this.

WAVY Meteorologist Ricky Mathews went to the scene Wednesday to check out the damage.

A couple things stood out as variables that could have contributed to the tree falling.

First off, to the northwest, there is a big opening in the trees that allowed the wind to come through the area perhaps a bit easier and catch the leaves on the tree. Sometimes what will happen is the leaves will act as sort of a catch for the wind. But as they act as a little bit of a catch, they allow for more force to be exerted on the tree base, which can then topple over, unfortunately on the house.