Granddad Inside Home Damaged By Falling Tree: Late Wife 'Was Watching Us'
LOVELAND, Colo. (CBS4) - The grandfather of a new baby says his late wife was watching over him and his daughter's family when a large tree crashed down on their home during a visit.
Strong winds overnight blew the cottonwood tree over onto Roy Wooderson's daughter's home on Crawford Court in Loveland.
"The whole house just started shaking and there was a big, loud bang," said Wooderson, who is from Alaska. "I jumped up and looked out the window and the neighborhood's still there. And then I heard my kids hollering 'Dad, Dad!' and I go in their room and they're over the top of the baby, laying on the floor."
The incident happened at approximately 4 a.m., and Wooderson said his daughter had just gotten done nursing her baby and was back in bed when the tree blew down.
"They had to dig the baby out from underneath all the insulation and the sheet rock. There's full sheets of sheet rock and trusses on their bed that had to get out from under," Wooderson said.
Wooderson is a widower whose wife passed away more than a year ago. He arrived in Colorado two days ago on his visit to see his grandbaby, Emerly, who is only 10 weeks old.
"(My wife) was watching us making sure we were okay," he said. "It was her grandbaby."
Wooderson said his daughter, Corinna Befus, was suffering from some back pain after getting out of the house, but no one was seriously hurt.
"Everybody was lucky there were just minor injuries," he said.
The cottonwood tree that fell was located on Louden Ditch just west of the house the Befuses just recently moved into. Wooderson said he had just talked with his son-in-law about the tree, wondering about how old it was and whether it might fall over sometime soon.
He told CBS4 they estimated that the tree must be at least 100 years old.
The American Red Cross is helping the Befus family out while they are displaced from their home.
Investigators are checking the residence to determine how extensive the damage is.
