When an 85-year-old, 5,000 lb (2,267 kg) oak tree smashed through the Epsteins’ roof in Long Island, New York everyone was stunned.
“It sounded as if a bomb hit the house,” Geoffrey Epstein told CBS. A neighbour said it sounded like a gas explosion.
While Geoffrey’s 20-year-old daughter Stephanie Epstein was sleeping, the diseased tree crashed into the house’s second storey and into her bedroom, pinning her underneath one of the tree’s heavy limbs.
“Hearing her screaming for help, ‘Dad, get this tree of me!’ So the first instinct is to slap your face literally saying, ‘Wake up from this dream! Wake up!'” Geoffrey recalled of the Monday night incident.
It took crews two hours to free her as they carefully worked around the tangled power lines that were also taken down.
“I was trying so hard to breathe. I was shutting my eyes hoping that it would help time pass and begging everyone, ‘Get this tree off me, please,'” said Stephanie.
“The pain that she was in was tremendous,” said Great Neck Fire Chief James Neubert, adding that the cushioning and position of her bed contributed to saving her life.
Stephanie said she couldn’t believe she survived and was emotional when thanking the team that helped her to safety.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it,” she said as her voice broke.
Doctors are calling Stephanie a “miracle.” Despite the traumatic incident, she doesn’t have any broken bones and only requires the help of a walker until she fully recovers.
Investigators believe the tree was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
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