Thursday, January 16th, 12:15 am:
It was windy, around midnight, we'd just fallen asleep. The wind gusts shook our house and I was worried the house would be shaken off the blocks. Abigail began squirming, twisting and turning. I looked out the window and saw nothing out of the ordinary. I could now hear a strange squeaking sound which I thought was from the fan in the bedroom, but it never made that sound before. It seemed to be coming from the back bedroom wall and I was staring at the wall for a while trying to figure out what that sound was. Three minutes later the wind gusts picked up again (100 mph I later heard) and I felt the house shake again. Then I heard a loud thump, and thought maybe something outside was blown against the side of our house, something like a trash can or other outdoor material stored by a neighbor. Then immediately the sky began dumping rain and lots of it. My husband jumped out of bed and opened the bedroom door to look down our hallway. I watched him. He just stared. I asked, "What is it?" I thought perhaps the roof was leaking because of the downpour. He said, "There's a tree in our house". By now the girls were awake and asking, "What are you doing, Daddy?" I get up and look. Sure enough, there is a tree in our house, in the hallway. The top half of the one and only tree on our lot had broken off, flipped over our bedroom and landed top side down on the side of our trailer and two branches of the tree had pierced our roof. One branch poked down through our hallway roof and into the second bedroom, almost piercing the inside of the wall, two feet from where my cat sleeps in her box. The other branch pierced the hallway ceiling 3 inches from the hall ceiling light, scraped the second bedroom door which is right next to our furnace, pierced a hole in the floor then must have hit something more solid than wood and that branch snapped off, the end of it hitting our bedroom door.
My husband perused our lot lease to find out if the landlord is responsible. There is nothing certain in there. He put buckets on the floor to catch the rain water dripping from those branches stuck in our roof. I called my mom while dressing the girls and packing clothes, "Sorry to wake you up so late, Mom, but a tree fell through our roof. Can we stay at your house tonight?" By 1:30 am we were driving to my mom's house in Wasilla.
We arrived safely, despite the icy roads from Anchorage to Wasilla, the strong gusts of wind, and the water filling the roads in the ruts causing our van hydroplane on occasion. My husband was unable to sleep so he left for home again. He had a landlord to call, a tree to remove, and a roof to fix. Somebody at the rental office told my husband the maintenance crew was busy installing a new toilet on the park grounds and couldn't assist my him. My husband bought a chainsaw and borrowed a neighbor's ladder to get that tree out of our roof and side yard. He then put a couple tarps over the roof to keep the rain out. Our lease states that the landlord is responsible for maintenance of trees on the lot we rent. It is their land, but the house I own. It is unclear if they are responsible for damage their property causes to ours.
So here I am, still at my mom's non-child-friendly home, sneezing all over the place because of all the scented candles, fragrances and who knows what other chemicals she has floating around her large brand new home. My husband chopped up the top half of that tree and loaded it in the back of our van to drive the wood to his father's house. His father heats his home with a wood stove so the wood will be used. I have no idea how long we'll be here. I have no idea if our landlord is going to pay for damages. I have no idea what we are going to do. We even discussed possible renting, but I have older pets and we cannot afford the high cost of renting an apartment coupled with whatever pet fees we would have to pay for my elderly animal family members. We only pay $375 lot rent plus utilities and that's really all we can afford. I guess we'll just see how this all plays out and go from there, making decisions each step of the way.
It was windy, around midnight, we'd just fallen asleep. The wind gusts shook our house and I was worried the house would be shaken off the blocks. Abigail began squirming, twisting and turning. I looked out the window and saw nothing out of the ordinary. I could now hear a strange squeaking sound which I thought was from the fan in the bedroom, but it never made that sound before. It seemed to be coming from the back bedroom wall and I was staring at the wall for a while trying to figure out what that sound was. Three minutes later the wind gusts picked up again (100 mph I later heard) and I felt the house shake again. Then I heard a loud thump, and thought maybe something outside was blown against the side of our house, something like a trash can or other outdoor material stored by a neighbor. Then immediately the sky began dumping rain and lots of it. My husband jumped out of bed and opened the bedroom door to look down our hallway. I watched him. He just stared. I asked, "What is it?" I thought perhaps the roof was leaking because of the downpour. He said, "There's a tree in our house". By now the girls were awake and asking, "What are you doing, Daddy?" I get up and look. Sure enough, there is a tree in our house, in the hallway. The top half of the one and only tree on our lot had broken off, flipped over our bedroom and landed top side down on the side of our trailer and two branches of the tree had pierced our roof. One branch poked down through our hallway roof and into the second bedroom, almost piercing the inside of the wall, two feet from where my cat sleeps in her box. The other branch pierced the hallway ceiling 3 inches from the hall ceiling light, scraped the second bedroom door which is right next to our furnace, pierced a hole in the floor then must have hit something more solid than wood and that branch snapped off, the end of it hitting our bedroom door.
My husband perused our lot lease to find out if the landlord is responsible. There is nothing certain in there. He put buckets on the floor to catch the rain water dripping from those branches stuck in our roof. I called my mom while dressing the girls and packing clothes, "Sorry to wake you up so late, Mom, but a tree fell through our roof. Can we stay at your house tonight?" By 1:30 am we were driving to my mom's house in Wasilla.
We arrived safely, despite the icy roads from Anchorage to Wasilla, the strong gusts of wind, and the water filling the roads in the ruts causing our van hydroplane on occasion. My husband was unable to sleep so he left for home again. He had a landlord to call, a tree to remove, and a roof to fix. Somebody at the rental office told my husband the maintenance crew was busy installing a new toilet on the park grounds and couldn't assist my him. My husband bought a chainsaw and borrowed a neighbor's ladder to get that tree out of our roof and side yard. He then put a couple tarps over the roof to keep the rain out. Our lease states that the landlord is responsible for maintenance of trees on the lot we rent. It is their land, but the house I own. It is unclear if they are responsible for damage their property causes to ours.
So here I am, still at my mom's non-child-friendly home, sneezing all over the place because of all the scented candles, fragrances and who knows what other chemicals she has floating around her large brand new home. My husband chopped up the top half of that tree and loaded it in the back of our van to drive the wood to his father's house. His father heats his home with a wood stove so the wood will be used. I have no idea how long we'll be here. I have no idea if our landlord is going to pay for damages. I have no idea what we are going to do. We even discussed possible renting, but I have older pets and we cannot afford the high cost of renting an apartment coupled with whatever pet fees we would have to pay for my elderly animal family members. We only pay $375 lot rent plus utilities and that's really all we can afford. I guess we'll just see how this all plays out and go from there, making decisions each step of the way.
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