I was meeting with my teaching assistant, having just finished a class in Macro Economics at Dickinson College for rising 8th and 9th graders on behalf of the Center for Talented Youth when my wife called. A delivery man had called her to tell her there was a tree that had fallen on the house. She went home, took pictures and sent them to me. What she saw as she arrived was this:
Please keep reading....
She took several more pictures, and as you will see, this large tulip poplar had been split by lightening:
She went into the house and found none of the windows where the tree hit were broken, perhaps in large part because its fall was cushioned by a large and somewhat overgrown quince bush next to the house. She could not tell about damage to the roof.
I arrange with CTY for my TA to cover study hall last night (he often does study hall without me) and my classes today and came home, having already made contact with a local man who addresses a variety of things around the neighborhood, including downed trees.
This morning he and two other man came over with chain saws and cutters, and after several hours of labor this was the result:
There is a little bit of damage to a couple of roof tiles and one part of the guttering that might need to be addressed. He will come back Monday to address that, along with, separately from this incident, trimming some overhanging limbs from a couple of other trees.
The cost to address the immediate damage was only $600. I will eat that, because we have a $1000 deductible on our homeowners.
But we were very lucky and we know it.
There was no structural damage to the house.
There were no broken windows.
The roof did not have a hole punched in it so we do not have to worry about leaks if it rains in next few days.
Our beloved cats were safe.
The lightening did not start a fire.
The cost of the damage was reasonable.
We are trimming our other trees, although there is little one can do to prevent against a lightening strike like this - and note, it was not even on the tallest tree on the property.
And we think we can save the tulip poplar.
Life is full of surprises, is it not?
Peace.