iStock(WASHINGTON) — A Washington woman and her baby narrowly escaped a tree that crashed through the roof of their home and landed just feet away from them.
Aja Hauff, of Lakewood, was bottle feeding her 1-month-old daughter, Ava, on Monday afternoon when she heard a loud noise.
“I thought maybe someone was doing construction outside, but I really wasn’t sure what was happening,” Hauff told ABC News on Wednesday.
The noise got louder, and Hauff said she suddenly heard a crack.
“Just a couple feet away from me, I see the ceiling caved in, and there was this big hole,” she said.
A tree had come crashing down, falling diagonally across her home, stretching from one corner to the other.
“My daughter screamed,” Hauff said. “She’s only a month old and she’s normally a calm baby, so that was the only time she’s ever freaked out.”
Hauff quickly ran to the opposite side of her house to get her and her daughter outside. They both managed to calm down after a few minutes, but still have been rattled by the experience.
When the home inspector came, she was told that the tree’s base looked to be rotting so the fall could have been a mix of deterioration and weather. It was windy and rainy when the tree fell.
Hauff has since been staying with her mother-in-law ever since, and she doesn’t anticipate returning to the home anytime soon because of the extensive damage.
“It’s gonna need more than just roof fixing,” she said.
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