Tuesday night’s strong winds and rain uprooted a large tree and damaged the Springfield home next to it.
It was a typical stormy night for Deborah Gerber, she was preparing to go to bed as storms passed through the area.
"You could hear them. You could hear the wind," Gerber described.
Throughout the evening she could hear limbs fall against her home, but then, "all of a sudden I just heard this horrendous, loud noise and the power went out instantly," said Gerber.
In her backyard, an old and massive tree fell through her roof. Neighbors were startled by the sound.
"All the sudden I heard this crash," said neighbor Ericka Kane. "I saw all the lights from the rescue," resident, Joyce Kemp said.
The wind also damaged Kemp's home. "My storm window is half blown off, the glass all broke," said Kemp.
Officials believed the combination of constant wet weather and strong winds were too much, at least for the old tree.
"Heavy rain soaks the ground, everything gets real loose," Springfield Fire Chief Jimmy Hamill said.
"I really wasn't expecting it to completely topple that huge tree," said Gerber.
However, she wasn't able to truly assess the damage until Wednesday morning when more wet weather rolled in.
"This morning when it started to rain, it started pouring," explained Gerber. "It was raining inside." She's working with adjusters to get a damage estimate, while her neighbors count their blessings.
"I'm glad my tree didn't fall," Kemp said.
"Praying for her and hopefully she gets her house fixed and not to much damage is done," said Kane.
Gerber was staying in an area hotel with her cats since the tree knocked out power to a few surrounding homes.
