LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. — A collective gasp followed by sighs of relief echoed throughout a Lake Oswego neighborhood on Monday after a giant tree fell to the ground, narrowly missing homes and property.
"Oh my gosh, it's perfect!" said Tony Tarr as he happened to capture the moment on his cell phone.
The tree was planted in Tarr's back yard.
"Yes! It didn't hit anybody!" continued Tarr in his moment of relief. "Oh my gosh! No, it didn't hit her house!"
The tree fell across Oriole Lane around noon in the Lake Oswego community of Mountain Park. Tarr and his wife, Brenda, had been bracing for the fall all weekend, watching the tree lean further and further.
"I thought oh my gosh, it's finally coming down!" said Brenda Tarr.
Tony Tarr added that he thought it would hit the front of his neighbor's house, across the street, but it didn't.
"It didn't even hit the lamp post," he said.
In Lake Oswego alone, fire fighters said they'd responded to at least 30 calls of trees falling into homes by Monday. In one case, a man was killed. That explained why Lake Oswego police drove through Mountain Park Monday with a warning.
"They actually want us to leave," Brenda Tarr said.
Lake Oswego police told KGW their concern stemmed from the tree that fell on Monday, and a second tree that neighbor Mark Haleston was also watching.
"This is a disaster waiting to happen," said Haleston, pointing up to the 120-foot Douglas fir as it swayed in the wind.
Haleston lives a few houses down from the Tarrs and is in the tree's possible path of destruction. He pointed to where its burgeoning roots cracked the snow around its trunk.
"There, look at that, watch it move," Haleston said, pointing to the ground. "It's just heaving ... it's like something's underneath there trying to get out."
Amid uncertain conditions, several neighbors left their homes on Oriole Street to stay with friends and family. Lake Oswego Fire Marshal Gert Zoutendijk said for those in potential harm's way, it's a good idea.
"I've dealt with a lot of storms," Zoutendijk said, "But nothing like this where so many trees are coming down and have come down and so many hitting homes."
Looking ahead, Zoutendijk said freezing rain in the forecast could be another concern for everyone in the area.
"We've been saying it all along from the city, people should stay indoors if they can," he said.