Massive Tree Hits Newtown House During Hurricane

NEWTOWN SQUARE–The clean-up and repairs had already begun Tuesday afternoon at a home on the 4100 block of Meadow Lane in Newtown Township after a very large tree, uprooted and fell on top of the home Monday night during Hurricane Sandy's highest winds.

Homeowner Marie Toglia was wrapped in a blanket watching workers cut up the large tree and wrapping her home in tarp so the continued rain from Sandy would stop flowing into her second floor.

Toglia was at home with her husband, Mark, and teenage son Monday night waiting out Sandy when the front yard tree came crashing into her home around 8 p.m.

"The whole thing just uprooted," she said. "It sounded like an explosion."

No one was injured and luckily Toglia's daughter is away at college as a large branch from the tree came through the roof into her daughter's second-floor bathroom.

The family quickly attempted to plug holes in the roof but water flowed into the second floor, Toglia said.

However, the tree did not knock out power to the house. Toglia said they lost power instead, likely due to another downed tree that took down wires near SAP on West Chester Pike not far from the Toglia home.

By Tuesday morning the tree had been removed from the home and chopped up, leaving wood scattered across the front of the property Tuesday afternoon. The home was also seen wrapped in a large blue tarp to protect against the rain and cover the holes in the roof until they could be fixed.