LYNNWOOD, Wash. – Several families rushed to salvage whatever belongings they could after a tree destroyed their homes Saturday during a storm and before the next storm blows through.
Around 3 p.m. local time on Saturday, several families sat inside their homes at the Martha Lake Mobile Manor in Lynnwood, Washington, waiting for the rain from the latest winter storm to taper off.
“They were all inside,” Maria Jimenez translated for her cousin-in-law and two other neighbors. “She heard a loud bang. When she went to open the door, it was all gone. Part of the room, part of the living room, the bathroom, it was all destroyed.”
Saturated ground wasn’t enough to hold a massive pine tree, and the roots broke free. Three homes were completely destroyed while another was damaged.
“They lost part of the television and the bedroom. They cannot live here,” Jimenez said to FOX 13 Seattle of the family in the damaged home. “They don’t have power. They don’t have nothing.”
Work crews arrived to clear the downed tree while the families and relatives arrived to help pull valuables from the wreckage and set up tarps to guard against the inches of rain expected by Tuesday as several fronts move through the Pacific Northwest.
“My parents felt it,” said Eduardo Mendoza-Perez through Jimenez. “They said they heard some type of cracking and that was it. The house shook and the dogs got all frantic.”
No one was injured, Jimenez said.
Sunday brought another quarter-inch of rain to Lynnwood. A more impressive system Monday into Tuesday will bring 1-2 inches of rain, which could mean over a foot of snow for the mountains.
The neighbors are fearful that another huge tree will topple with more rain and gusty winds.
“The trees here, it’s only a matter of time,” said Mendoza-Perez through Jimenez.
The early-week storm will spell out heavy snow for the Rockies in what could be the best snowmaker of the season for the Denver area.
DENVER LIKELY TO SEE PLOWABLE SNOW LATER THIS WEEK FROM INCOMING ROCKIES SNOWSTORM