Tree Crashes Through Roof Of Auburn Home
AUBURN (CBS) - Strong winds knocked a tree down onto a home in Auburn. It pierced the roof, coming right into Bill and Jan Crosbie's kitchen.
Bill showed WBZ where a huge branch thundered into his Rochdale Street home early Monday afternoon, making a big mess, but sparing his favorite coffee maker as the 81-year-old sat a few feet away sorting pills.
"It came right down where my coffee maker is," Bill Crosbie said. "I'm glad I wasn't up getting a coffee."
Workers spent hours removing the branch after winds snapped a chunk off an oak tree and tossed it onto the roof.
"Think of people in other areas where they've had hurricanes and tornadoes come through," Bill said. "This is nothing."
He got his disabled wife out safely and then sent a typically understated text to his daughters.
"No caption, no words, nothing. Just the picture," said Stacy Crosbie. "It didn't look bad."
But family and neighbors rallied to the couple's aid soon enough and Bill prefers to focus on that.
"I'm a lucky guy for a lot of reasons," Bill said.
But as chainsaws buzzed everywhere, the Crosbies learned that structural and electrical damage had rendered the place unlivable. No surprise, Bill put a positive spin on that.
"My golf clubs didn't get hit, so I'm in business," Bill said.
Still, the 81-year-old admits the ordeal will be a challenge for him and his wife and it might have been a whole different story had been trying to get some coffee.
"We wouldn't be talking right now would we," Bill said.
Bill says he may split some of the oak into firewood himself, but his destroyed chimney is among the estimated $25,000 in needed repairs.