"We are all very lucky to be alive": Tree falls on 7-year-old's birthday party in Elk River
ELK RIVER, Minn. -- A day of celebration turned into a nightmare for a family in Elk River. A tree came crashing down on a kid's birthday party as storms fired up across the state Saturday afternoon.
"Everything was going great," Hayley Snyder said.
The decorations were ready for Layla's seventh birthday. But the Barbie-themed party turned into a real-world horror movie just an hour after the guests arrived.
"It started raining and we didn't think anything of it. Some people huddled in the tent over there and the rest of us huddled in the garage," Snyder said.
The family said the storm came on fast and furious, going from sunshine to rain and hail and then suddenly a massive tree split and fell on the tent full of people hiding from the rain.
"You heard screaming, a huge crack, I see my fiancé run out of the garage. You look down and everyone was inside the tent laying down and you didn't hear anything so it was super, super scary," she said.
The six or so people in the tent were trapped under the branch.
A tree came crashing down on a 7-year-old’s Barbie themed birthday party in Elk River this afternoon. Some people had minor injuries but are expected be okay. @WCCO #mnwx pic.twitter.com/GqPQxKjkFa
— Kirsten Mitchell (@Kirsten_TV) July 23, 2023
"That was the awful feeling too. Not knowing if I was going to pull anyone out of there alive, it was so scary," she said.
Layla's grandmother Jennifer was in the tent.
"Then boom it just all came on top of us," she said.
Jennifer said it was a miracle they got out. Some people were cut and bruised and Layla's grandfather was taken to the hospital to get checked out.
"We are all very lucky to be alive right now because if it would have been the larger half of the tree, none of us would have survived," she said.
The house was mostly spared, though the mudroom has damage, including a gaping hole over the debris-covered decorations.
"I've worked hard to plan this day and it was crushed pretty quickly. Like really? On my daughter's birthday of all days. So we'll probably be doing something inside next year," Snyder said.
The family's not sure what caused the tree to fall. The winds were strong but they didn't see any evidence of a lightning strike.