Two people are dead after a large tree fell on their house in Horseshoe Bay, B.C., crashing through a portion of the roof amidst strong winds on Sunday morning.
The tragedy took place before 1:30 a.m. in the 6200 block of Wellington Avenue, a street that overlooks the water near Garrow Bay Park.
A man in his 60s and a woman in her 50s were found dead inside the house by emergency crews, West Vancouver police confirmed.
“This appears to be a tragic accident,” Const. Kevin Goodmurphy wrote in a news release. “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the deceased.”
The West Vancouver Minor Hockey Association has identified the victims as former association president Mike Sharp and his wife Caroline.
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“Tragic news in our hockey community today,” reads a post from the association on twitter. “We are in shock. Mike was a selfless leader and a true gentlemen”.
Neighbours were feeling too upset to speak on the record, but told Global News that the couple had lived in their house for about 20 years and will be missed.
They also said that the couple’s son lived with them, but he was staying at a friend’s house the night the tree came down.
The couple’s bodies were unable to be removed from the house as of Sunday afternoon because of the instability of the home.
West Vancouver police found downed power wires and ruptured gas lines at the residence, as a result of the uprooted tree.
A tree removal service has been hired to bring in a crane to remove the giant tree and specialists will have to certify the home is stable before the bodies can be recovered.
Roads remained closed to traffic Sunday afternoon as crews removed the tree and debris.
Darren Gordon, a resident of Horseshoe Bay, said strong winds knocked patio furniture across his deck overnight on Saturday and described the wind as “the most violent” he’s ever heard.
“From 8 through midnight it seemed that every 10 or 15 minutes you could just hear this roar coming through and then the wind would hit the house,” he told Global News.
“I was worried the roof was going to come off at some point.”
On Saturday, Environment Canada placed the eastern side of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver under wind warnings.
It forecast southeasterly winds of 70 kilometres per hour — gusting up to 90 kilometres per hour — and cautioned that tree branches could break and loose objects could be tossed around.
Wind warnings remained in effect on Sunday for the Sunshine Coast, Southern Gulf Islands and East Vancouver Island.
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