Randy Binns was sound asleep in his townhouse on Village Way in Qualicum Beach, when he heard a loud crash at approximately 3:15 a.m. on Tuesday, May 18.
“I thought maybe it was my cat knocked something off the table, so I got up right way to investigate. And when I turned on the light, I saw a tree had landed on the roof,” he said.
Binns was shaken by the incident but is also counting his blessings.
“If it had come down any harder or crashed through the roof and I had been on the couch, because I fall asleep on the couch quite often, that woud have been the end of me,” said Binns. “If it went the other way, it would have hit my bedroom. It could have been deadly.”
The tree landed above the townhouse’s small patio which has a sliding glass door. The railing was spared any damage but some of the ceiling was peeled off.
“The roof took the blunt of the impact,” said Binns. “It could have been worse. I did not sleep well after that. It almost felt like a mini-earthquake.”
READ MORE: Tree tumbles during heavy winds, crushes car at inn in Qualicum Beach
It was a windy night but Binns said that isn’t unusual.
“It does get strong here for some unknown reason,” explained. “This sort of a little vortex here and when you go over to the high school (Kwalikum Secondary). Whenever it’s windy, there’s always tons of branches down.”
Next-door neighbour Marie Bogaardt also heard the loud bang. She wasn’t sure what it was but found out in the morning what happened. She is now worried about the tall trees near her bedroom at the back of her townhouse.
“We are very concerned and I always think about it,” said Bogaardt. “If there’s a strong wind I can touch the branches of the trees and that’s too close. The trees are on a slope so they don’t have that much foundation.”
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