A large tree limb tore through the roof of a Potomac home around 2 p.n. Sunday, landing just a few feet from a 3-year-old who was napping down the hall. The child's family was home at the time and escaped without injuries, even as the crash sent them scrambling upstairs to check on their youngest.
The limb came down on a house in the 8600 block of Atwell Road, off Falls Road, according to WBFF. Andrew Bassan said he was with his wife and their 6-year-old when they heard the crash, just as their younger child had gone down for a nap. At first, Bassan said, the family thought the noise was thunder.
It wasn't until they checked upstairs that they discovered the limb had punched into the roof, and Bassan ran to make sure his son was okay. The boy was unhurt, and the family is now working with its insurance company to sort out the damage. The incident unfolded as rain continued across the Washington, D.C. region, the outlet's report noted.
A Second Tree Incident Closes a Bethesda Road
The Atwell Road scare wasn't the only tree trouble Sunday. In Bethesda, a fallen tree struck a utility pole and brought down wires in the 7400 block of Glenbrook Road at Hampden Lane, just west of the Bethesda Metro station, per the same WBFF account. The road remained closed at the time of the report, and no reopening time had been given.
Part of a Busy Storm Season for Montgomery County Trees
The Potomac close call adds to a string of tree-related incidents that have rattled Montgomery County homeowners this year. In July, a tree collapsed onto Ridgely Chichester's home during torrential rain and strong winds, and Chichester told WBFF, “I looked up, and this tree was literally falling right towards me. I was in that breezeway, and I dove underneath a chair to get out of the way.” That tree left insulation spilling from the walls, windows shattered and a hole punched through the roof.
Two people were displaced after a large tree fell onto two houses in Takoma Park, with no injuries reported but both homes ruled unsafe to occupy, according to DC News Now. In Poolesville, a large tree fell across Beallsville Road and damaged three to four utility poles, pulling down wires and leaving hundreds without power, WJLA reported.
Storms Have Injured Residents and Knocked Out Power for Thousands
Some incidents this year have been more serious. During an August round of severe weather, crews responded to a tree that fell onto a home on Maxim Lane in Rockville and initially trapped a resident, who was later taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Bethesda Magazine. The same storm system dropped a tree into a Bethesda home on West Cedar Lane, sparking a basement outlet fire that forced two adults to evacuate and shelter in their vehicle, while severe thunderstorms with the potential for damaging wind gusts and flash flooding were possible each day that week, with storms rolling through Monday evening.
A separate overnight storm system with wind gusts near 70 mph toppled trees onto D.C.-area homes and roads and left thousands without power, WTOP reported, with Pepco logging nearly 23,000 outages in Prince George's County and more than 15,000 in the District by 11 a.m. That same system crushed the roof over a second-floor bedroom in a Kettering home, trapping a 12-year-old boy inside until fire crews freed him. A separate August incident in Bethesda saw a large tree fall onto a utility pole and wires before catching fire, triggering neighborhood power outages, according to MyMCMedia.
For the Bassan family, Sunday's scare ended without injury, but it adds to a season in which falling trees have repeatedly landed close to where Montgomery County residents and their children were sleeping, resting or simply at home.
