Wind gusts up to 46 mph in Omaha and 53 mph in Lincoln had trees swaying across the heartland Saturday. It proved too much for one huge tree in midtown Omaha, sent crashing down into a home. No one was injured.
The tree at 51st and Grant toppled over late Saturday night. "We heard what sounded like a rolling or a rumbling and I thought maybe my mother had fallen upstairs,” said neighbor Jane Lacy-Johansen.
“We have a lot of dogs and a lot of activity in the house and it sounded like something had fallen and then it sounded too big for that."
Ben Sieff wasn't home when the tree came down. A neighbor called him to deliver the "breaking" news. "When I got here at midnight last night you couldn't walk in the front door, you couldn't walk in the side door, you couldn't walk in the back door, so I had to go in through the garage and chop down a bunch of this in the morning."
Sieff says the attic bedroom is smashed and there are stress cracks on the walls.
It's not the first time the tree has been the subject of attention. "It's been struck by lighting twice, it's been on fire once and it's hit the house,” said Lacy-Johansen. “This is the third time since we've lived here that this tree has hit the house in some way or another."
“Actually I think it's kind of interesting, it's jut one of those things, it's kind of a bummer, but like I said, what can you do?" said Sieff.