A tree has crashed onto a family home in Seatoun after being snapped off by storm-force winds.
By Melissa Nightingale
A Seatoun family are lucky to be alive after a huge tree crashed through their house in the today's wild winds.
Andy Taylor said the trees on a hill above the house he rents on Marine Parade were "potential death traps" that neighbours had been asking councilto deal with for some time.
Earlier today a gust of wind snapped one of the trees, sending it plummeting through his house, narrowly missing the bedroom his 7-year-old son was in.
Neighbour Robbie Mackay surveys the damage to 9-year-old Isabell Taylor's bedroom. Photo / Mark Mitchell
"The tree's broken free of its roots and fallen all the way down the hill, crashed in through the top of the house, through my daughter's bedroom, through the bathroom, through to our bedroom at the front," he said.
Luckily, Taylor's daughter Isabell, 9, and his wife Claire, were in another room at the time.
Taylor, who was not home, had been on the phone to his wife when the pine tree burst through the ceiling.
The Taylor's house on Marine Parade in Seatoun. Photo / Mark Mitchell
"I heard it sort of through the phone play out with a big thud and the crashing, and followed by silence, and I said to my wife 'Claire, what's happened, are you okay?' And she said 'yeah, fine, but there's a tree in the house'."
Taylor rushed home to find the house "pretty badly destroyed".
Most of Isabell's belongings were "completely battered" or trapped under the tree.
The fire brigade told the family the house couldn't be lived in until it was assessed as structurally sound.
The Taylor's house on Marine Parade in Seatoun, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
They are staying with friends for the next few days.
The Taylors have only been living in the house about six months, but after talking to neighbours discovered the trees above the houses were a contentious issue.
He said the neighbours had been asking council to cut the trees down for their safety, but nothing had been done.
However, the council said the trees were on private land, so were not the council's responsibility.
The family said they were thankful they were all able to walk away today.
