BILLINGS — Tuesday night's 70-plus-mile-per-hour wind storm caused significant property damage around town, and a few residents in the Heights in the Windsor Estates mobile court saw their homes crushed by large trees.
One corner of King Arthur Drive seemed to receive the worst of it. Massive trees that had been uprooted fell on at least three homes. No injuries were reported.
Victoria Kolterer has lived in the area for over 13 years and had her home damaged by a tree that fell into her daughter's room.
“It was a freak accident of nature,” said Kolterer. “I felt my house shaking, the wind blowing. Then, all of a sudden, this loud boom, and I heard breaking glass, and that's when the tree branch crashed through my roof and collapsed the ceilings.”
The base of that tree fell right into her neighbor's living room, demolishing it.
“It was terrifying, and our whole neighborhood here, has just been demolished," said Kolterer.
Across the street, Lottie Few was home with her mother when a tree had fallen through her bedroom. She said she had been lying in bed most of the day but got up before the storm started. Once it started raining, she went back to her bedroom to shut her window, and seconds after leaving the room, that tree fell through the roof, landing on the very bed she had laid in only 10 minutes earlier.
“And loud crashing, suddenly the hallway is lit. It's cold, it's wet. I felt something brush against my back. I was that close to it happening,” said Few.
Her mother, Michelle Few, did not know how close her daughter had been to being hit until after.
“At first I thought, 'Look at our house, there's a tree in our house,' and until later after all of that settled and I saw how shaken she was, I didn't realize how close she was to that when it happened,” said Few.
Their dog, who is deaf and blind, had been lying under Few's bed when the tree fell, but luckily, the frame withheld the trunk.
"That bed was a trooper and held up for her somehow. Once we got her out, we were all okay and I'm happy to have what I have," said Few.
That same area was forced to evacuate due to a gas leak caused by another toppled tree.
“You could hear it hissing loudly from there. It sounded like water. It sounded like someone left a hose on,” said Few.
After a few hours, residents were able to return home, but for these few, the home they were used to was no longer.
“This is my home, and it's no longer. It's a shell. It's very devastating. I know it's just material things, but it's my home, and where do you go? Where do you go?” said Kolterer.
The neighborhood was brought together through tragedy. Kolterer received help from her neighbors after she had been trapped on her porch and said others were offering to make food when power was lost.
“I was yelling, 'Someone help me!' and the gentleman from three doors down came down and cleared my porch so I could get out my house,” said Kolterer.
While the timeline for cleanup and returning to their homes is uncertain, everyone is grateful to have made it out unscratched.
“Everyone has been so here for each other, and that's, you know, it's, that's what we need right now because this isn't something that any one person can handle," said Few. “The main takeaway is just, be grateful for what you have.”
