Tree falls on Brandon home, cars

BRANDON (FOX 13) - A family of six is out of their home and cars Thursday night after a massive tree came toppling down into their yard.

Four cars were nearly crushed from the weight of the tree. Strangely, it fell during perfect weather.

If any of them had been pulling out of their driveway, or even standing on their front porch, they could have been crushed. Seeing all the damage, it's amazing no one was hurt.

After the crash, came the cleanup. Piles of debris lined the outside of the home on Kingsway Road.

Family members said it was a sunny morning, and the crash of a falling tree was the last thing they expected to hear.
 
"I said, 'What the heck was that?' so I come running outside and saw this," neighbor Steve Kelly said, pointing to the aftermath.

A 70-foot tree, crushing four cars in its path, fell from Kelly’s yard.

"Seems to be catching around here. A lot of trees are falling down," he explained to FOX 13 News.

It’s the second one in two weeks. Stormy weather caused the other tree to collapse along his fence last week, but it didn’t cause any damage. Kelly said he called a contractor Wednesday to assess the other trees in his yard, but before getting a chance to cut them down, one of them came toppling on its own.

"I was sleeping and then I heard my mom screaming. I woke up real quick, I came outside, and then I saw this," 19-year-old Javier Benitez recalled.

He and his family were inside the house when the tree came down. They were all OK, but the house took a beating.

Several limbs went through the roof.

"It damaged the garage and half of the front porch," Benitez explained.

The power is off and a sign reading “vacate" signs now hangs in the window.

Code enforcement was evaluating the structure to make sure it's safe before allowing anyone back inside.

The Benitez family was staying with relatives Thursday night. A tree service was on site and says they found at least one other tree rotting at the roots in the neighboring yard. That one will be taken down soon.

The tree service said it's important for homeowners to look for signs of dead trees, like cracking roots and fungus on the bark, before it's too late.