NEWCASTLE –

A family is picking up the pieces after an 80-foot redwood tree crashed into their Newcastle living room.

The tree came down in a gust of wind Monday night. Shortly before the impact, residents Anona and Dave Czarnek were sitting in their living room, watching TV.  But they got up to investigate a small potted tree on their outside deck that had just fallen over in the wind.  Had they stayed in their chairs, they could have been seriously injured.

“I just got out of my chair,” said Mr. Czarnek, “And she just walked over to the door, and I turned around to say something to her and the whole ceiling came right at me and went right into the chair…And the two big beams came right down on her chair.”

The Czarneks’ home will have to undergo extensive reconstruction.  But they are insured for that.  More than anything, they are thankful to be alive and unhurt.

“You have to take it for what it is,” Mr. Czarnek concluded. “You just have to say, well we’re here.”