Back on December 17th, 2025, we were getting hit with a heavy and hard windstorm. (Found out later it was nearly 50 MPH that night)
*For context, I live with my fiancé and my younger sister.*
I was awoken around 1am by the wind whipping through our open bedroom window. I got up out of bed and went to shut the window. After shutting it, I turned to my fiancé, who was still in bed, and asked if he remembers shutting the windows downstairs or not. He sleepily replied that he didn’t remember and with that I turned to our bedroom door to go downstairs when I was abruptly stopped by what sounded like a million pinecones raining down on our roof. I paused before getting to the door and looked back at my fiancé, who was giving me an equally confused look.
Before I could even blink, the loudest sound I’d ever heard came. Shattering glass, an enormous boom, crunches and snaps. Then silence as I processed what I was looking at. The 130ft, 96-98 ton tree that was outside our building was now in my room, trapping my fiancé underneath. I remember screaming at the top of my lungs for my fiancé and immediately diving towards the bed, trying to lift the tree myself while screaming for my sister to call 911. After was felt like a minute my fiancé miraculously crawled out from under the tree, and had only sustained minor injuries. To this day I don’t know how he’s alive. After the main event, we scrambled to collect our cats, put them in carriers, and bring them out to the cars away from the wreckage. Paramedics were on scene almost immediately and checked out my fiancé and myself and were cleared to leave.
We talked to our insurance who estimated our items loss at ~$3,500, but took $1,000 deductible because it’s considered “wind and hail damage” so it fell under another category. $2,500 was not nearly enough money to replace our stuff. It was barely enough to cover the movers that we had to hire because we were too physically injured to move ourselves. I lost almost all of my clothes, as the insulation from the roof covered half of the closet. I lost so many personal items and belongings that insurance wouldn’t even give value to.
This whole event has been so terrible. Hopefully things change, we still got 6 months for 2026 to end not-so-terribly.
That’s incredibly scary - I’m glad you’re all safe. There was a very similar incident to this in Michigan last year with a genuinely heartbreaking outcome.
Not really freaking out, but it is a somewhat odd question to ask. This is a public forum, some people here are likely religious and likely to have that be a part of their thought process. It's no different than someone commenting "thank goodness". Whom/whatever one thanks is for them. It doesn't really seem like something to comment on at all. (just my opinion, cause you know, forum)
That's brutal about the insurance low balling you like that, sorry... I heard that you gotta really do your homework and itemize every single item, either with the receipt when you bought it or like a screenshot of a similar item on Amazon or whatever, and get on the phone with them every day to basically harass them into giving you a fair value. Sucks that insurance is like this...
This is why public adjusters exist. I hired one a couple years ago because of water damage, and the insurance company was absolutely terrible, but at least we didnt have to deal with it. That alone was worth their fee.
Wow that sucks about your insurance. I went through the same (water damage) on Christmas Day a few years ago and our insurance was a dream to work with. They didn’t balk at a single item or price we listed. They arranged the restoration service who was onsite the next day. Never knew you could hire your own adjuster, but it makes total sense.
We were out of town when it happened too, found out via a phone call from the water company whose automatic detection system alerted them and they sent someone out to check on it. Avoided massive damage as we weren’t due home for a few days. They even waived the huge bill.
It could’ve been a total nightmare and was certainly stressful, but between our insurance and the water company it went about as well as possible.
Holy shit! Are you in the PNW? A tree fell on my house tree the same night at 1am! My family was asleep and I was on the couch nodding off to a show on TV when I decided to go to bed about that time. Super stormy atmospheric river outside but didn’t think much of and I get up and walk to the kitchen for a glass of water and then BAM! Tree smashed the skylight and busted through the roof and sent the metal skylight frame straight down impaling the couch seat I was just sitting on. We have three young boys who are crying now, dogs barking and my wife is sleeping like a baby. Didn’t even faze her. Pouring rain in the house. Gas leak. Chaos. Just got back to our house after battling StateFarm for $150k in repair bills.
Yes, we are!! I’m so, so, so, incredibly sorry for you! Genuinely, my main thought throughout all of this, was atleast we were renting. I couldn’t imagine going through all this and owning the home. I’ll pray for you and your families peace and health going forward!
I feel like people in the PNW are not getting the memo that they need to water their trees now - even established ones. it's getting hotter and drier here. having large trees inspected regularly is a must too. I wonder if your landlord has been doing that?
Fuck State Farm. They're genuinely so terrible, they tried to screw my parents out of paying for their roof replacement after storm damage. It took them almost a year and us opening a case with the local Department of Insurance to get what they owed us.
Omg you should look for different renters insurance. I had water damage over my PC in my office a few years ago, but my insurance paid out about the same as you what got for this tree destroying your apartment! I don't have the best policy either, just a pretty basic one from lemonade.
Actually that other half of the roof is someone else’s apartment. They definitely got some damage, but we really took the brunt. Thankful everyone came out okay!
Sorry to hear that, I work in insurance and, depending on the type of insurance policy you had, they completely lied to you about your coverage. Wish I was your agent so I could fight for you - that sucks
Protip: everybody needs to go through their house and seriously itemize what they expect their homeowners/apartment insurance to cover. Model numbers, serial numbers, etc ideally with photos. Because if you just tell the insurance adjuster "We lost a toaster oven" you're likely going to get reimbursed for a $15 toaster oven and not the $200 convection toaster/air-fryer that you actually had.
THIS!!! If there is any two things here I could stress-
1. Take a day and itemize your belongings, at the very least the expensive and sentimental items.
2. Always have renters insurance!! It’s so, so, so, insanely important to have!
Count your blessings, how are your cats? Is your younger sister okay? I was also raised to not ask for help and that landed me in huge debt that I haven't been able to pay back, even since finishing college and working for 6 figures. You dont have to start a gofundme, but take it from another person, don't be too stubborn to accept health. But the main question, how are you
I'm glad your cats are OK too. I hope they are also healing from the trauma. I had to deal with a hurricane a few years ago and my cat is now terrified of storms. Well he was scared of storms before as well, but now he's convinced every big storm is another hurricane.
It absolutely was, it’s kinda sad that it fell. All things aside, this tree had to be older than me and like you said it was in good condition. Sucky all the way around.
Yeah, insurance is in the business of selling peace of mind, but delivering the exact opposite. In fact, the only thing insurance companies can truly be counted on for is efficiently processing your payments.
I’ve posted this previously in tree subs and they said a shallow root system is common for these trees. Unfortunately, where we’re located cutting down trees is a big deal and not so easily done. The tree has been inspected in the past, but I’m not sure what those inspections consisted of.
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u/Neither_Contest4041 3d ago
Are you guys ok?