Well, there was a storm predicted, my hubby said at 2pm, well, much hype about nothing, 10 minutes later we heard a ācrackā, we knew something must have fallen, but thought maybe a branch, when we tried to go outside we couldnāt, cos our roof above the entrance had bended across our door ( made out if metal) a oak tree was in front of it, when we got upstairs and looked out we saw our 100 year old oak had fallen across our house ( later we found out it weighed about 9 metric tons

) the storm was still raging ( the tree was still full with leaves, so it was kind of dragging left and right on our roof) and then my daughter called, she couldnāt get home, trainās werenāt running, she had gotten on a bus, the bus driver stopped it after 2 stations and told everyone to leave, so they did. She was stuck in the middle of nowhere, just a little money and alone, we told her to call a taxi ( there was a post where you could call one a few hundred meters away) if course it took her 45 minutes to get to it ( everyone was waiting their turn) when she finally got a taxi, he said he would drive if she paid , she told him we would pay, and they really got to our place after 50 minutes, even though trees were falling right and left

during that time we tried calling the emergency service numbers ( police/fire fighters) it took 3 hrs of constant dialing with 3 cell phones to finally get someone on the phone ( donāt know what would have happened if it had been a health issue) and they said we werenāt the only ones, it would take time. At 10 pm we called again and they said they didnāt think we needed them anymore ( hello, did the tree just walk off?!) and they would send someone, but first a person to view the damage and then maybe someone to help⦠at 11:30 pm someone finally showed up and said we really needed help, I think about 2pm the firefighters finally came and only sawed a few branches off to free our driveway, they said we needed professional help, we should call a tree specialist in the morning

and of course a roofer. The next morning, guess what, I called 30 roofer/tree specialist, either nobody answered the phone, if I did get a person (3) they didnāt have any time, someone said to call in 1,5 years

of course I donāt mind having a 9 ton oak lying on my roof all that time

anyway , one offered to lay a chain around the tree and drag it off the roof, which would have laid our house to rubble! All my neighbors saw our plight and came over, and that is when the miracles started happening, one neighbor had rented a crane for that day to cut down his pine, he offered it to us, another neighbor had a Stihl motor saw and knew how to use it, so, these grown men with 5 kids among them got onto that crane and started cutting off all the extra branches on the tree to ālighten the loadā, another neighbor had given a credit to a company which specializes in heavy duty cranes, he called that guy, of course all the cranes were away , only the largest was available, and the boss himself offered to come to us and help us with his crane ( took a few hrs to get it to our place) at 8 pm they had reduced the weight of the oak, the crane could lift a maximum of 8 tons, but they werenāt sure the tree was too heavy, so they removed the tip of the crane ( it was of course extendable) and āsavedā some weight, they then secured chains to different branches and started lifting the tree off, I have never prayed so hard and long

first, that while the neighbors were cutting off the branches alle day long that the tree wouldnāt twist and kill them both , then that that crane could lift the tree, and thank GOD, it did!!! Another neighbor helped, he had a golf lawn, fertilized it and mowed it constantly, but he allowed the crane to be put on his perfect lawn cos it couldnāt reach the tree on our property, the lawn was totally torn up after that, but he got it fixed ( we offered to do it for him, but he said it was ok ) the next day, of course it was raining and the water was dripping through 100 holes in the roof , my hubby went to the supermarket to buy pizza ( even though we had some in the freezer) there he met our neighbor buying buns, he wanted to buy them in the morning, but hadnāt had the time, there they met a friend of our neighbor, who was, guess what, a ROOFER !!! So our neighbor said, āhi there, these are our neighbors, a tree just fell on their house, you GOT to help themā the roofer looked like he regretted ever going shopping, but said he would help in between jobs⦠then, when he saw the tree he said we were extremely lucky!!! It had fallen on a corner if the roof, which are extra strong, if the tree had fallen on the middle of the roof, it would have gone through like a knife through butter, killing us all

soo, I do believe
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If course there is also other stuff, we live on a road which usually has no through traffic, but in that week , I guess we had 90 people driving , walking, biking

another ( small) tree had fallen on the road , so the people had to turn back and go past our house again

On a positive note, we have had excellent firewood the past years, while fuel and natural gas prices skyrocketed
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Here is the tree just getting lifted from our roof, the crane tip had a weight indicator so that it doesnāt lift anything over the limit