By EMMA SUN
A KALLISTA couple and their cat have miraculously walked away unharmed after a large tree fell onto their home last Tuesday, splitting it in two.
Emerald SES members were called to the house on Gleghorn Road at about 12.40am to find the tree had landed in the lounge room, leaving the bedroom and the kitchen on either side.
Yvonne Leeman said it was a close call for the man, who had only just passed by the lounge room minutes earlier.
“The gentleman in question had just gone out to the kitchen to get a drink and just walked into the bedroom before it crashed,” she said.
“It’s another one of those horrible near misses.”
Ms Leeman said the tree “literally came out of the ground”.
“It was a massive one that had bifurcated and it had just come out of the ground and fell over,” she said.
“You wouldn’t be able to get your arm around either of them and the tonnes of wet tree literally cut the house in two.”
The shaken up couple, who rent the house, have declined to comment, but Ms Leeman said they recounted how the house had “jumped up off the block” when the tree landed, causing vibrations throughout the fibro house.
The SES was fortunately able to arrange emergency accommodation for the pair that morning.
“We could do nothing for the house, couldn’t cover it or anything so all we did was help them to move what we could away from the damaged area so that if and when it rained, they wouldn’t get wet,” Ms Leeman said.
“The cat is fine as well, it took some trouble getting him out from under the bed.
“It’s like for many, what could’ve been and could’ve been terribly tragic but, fortunately, at the end of the day, it’s only a house and it’s replaceable. People aren’t,” she said.
