Sacramento woman describes close call after tree crashes through home
SACRAMENTO — A gaping hole is all that was left of Lupe Bernal's front wall after a tree came crashing through the roof of her Sacramento home on Sunday during severe storms.
"The worst thing for me to think about, my grandbaby usually comes over," Bernal said. "To think that she could have been here, she could have got hurt."
The home on 39th Street is one of many impacted by downed trees after whipping winds forced many to topple over during a prolonged stretch of intense weather.
Bernal said the only reason she wasn't home Sunday was because a different family tragedy kept her at the hospital. One tragedy potentially saved her from another.
"I'm just thankful that nobody was home and that we're safe," Bernal said. "Material things come and go, you know? As long as my family is OK, I'm going to be OK."
Bernal has a place to go despite significant damage to her kitchen and living room. The timetable for repairs is estimated to last one year due to the significant structural issues after the tree came down.
At one point Sunday, nearly 170,000 SMUD customers were without power with wind gusts in parts of the Sacramento region reaching 60 miles per hour. After a rainy week and saturated soil, the grounds were in prime condition to uproot trees and bring down limbs.
As of Monday, east Sacramento still had significant outages to report. Crews were racing to pick up debris and limbs from the roads and restore electricity with off-and-on light showers making yard cleaning difficult for some.
Bernal is counting her blessings knowing just how tragic this story could have ended. She is thankful for the people who came together to help her move into her temporary home and to Fair Oaks Arborist for working through the night to get most of the tree chopped down and hauled away.
There have been various other incidents involving fallen trees across the region due to the storm. In nearby Carmichael and up north in Yuba City, fallen trees claimed the lives of two men.
Also in Yuba City, a tree that fell through a Yuba City home, unrelated to the prior incident, nearly hit a 5-year-old girl sitting on a couch. A tree also fell in Vacaville and pierced through the roof of a home like a spear.