'It Sounded Like A Tornado Ripping Off The Roof'

In the wee hours of Monday morning, Mary Bergin was kept awake by the intermittent beeps coming from the batteries of the smoke detectors in her home on Comstock Hill. The storm caused the power to go on and off, producing a sound akin to nails-on-a-chalkboard. When the power went off for good around 3:30 am, the beeps came to end, but so did the chances of Bergen getting a few hours of sleep. At that time, a 60-foot Hickory Nut tree came crashing down on the roof of her house.

"It sounded like the roof was being ripped up by a tornado," said Bergin. "I ducked and ran and my husband laughed at me."

Bergin could joke about the incident because no one was hurt and there was minimal damage to her house. She had been worried about that tree for a long time and it finally came down in the wake of Hurricane Irene.

"We had called the town like three times," said Bergin. "We told them that it was leaning and we didn't trust it. They came over and said it was alive and didn't do anything. Now it's down and uprooted."

Bergin called a tree service first thing on Monday morning. The service removed the top part of the tree from Bergin's house and the front lawn is now littered with branches and the lower half of the tree. There is more work to be done, but the yard is now a nice obstacle course for her dogs.

"They love it," said Bergen. "The little one loves the branches. It's like a maze for them."