Fallen Tree Damages Sewickley House

Henry Mickey was standing in his kitchen, just down the hall from his master bedroom, when he heard an awful sound.

“It was like an explosion,” Mickey said Tuesday evening.

Heavy wind gusts at about 1 p.m. uprooted a large maple tree in Henry and Maria Mickey’s backyard at 218 Linden Court and toppled the large tree onto the roof, causing heavy damage. The branches crashed through the roof, through the attic and into the second-level master bedroom and nearby spare bedroom.

No one was injured in the incident, but Henry Mickey said if the tree had fallen two minutes earlier, he would have been standing in his bedroom. The errant tree knocked out power to the house, but Mickey was able to call his wife, who owns and was at work at the time.

“He called me, and I thought he was kidding around,” Maria Mickey said. “He said, ‘We’ve got a tree in our bedroom.’ I said, ‘Yeah Henry, yeah.’ Then he said, ‘Maria, the old tree in the backyard fell on the house.’ I knew he wasn’t joking.”

Maria Mickey was upset as she surveyed the damage but said she was grateful no one was injured.

“I’m glad Henry wasn’t hurt,” she said.

She said Henry Mickey had just taken the lawnmower out to the backyard to prepare to cut the grass and had gone inside briefly when the tree fell. None of the mirrors hanging in the two bedrooms was broken. Photos and keepsakes that hang on the walls also remained intact.

“We’re very blessed,” Maria Mickey said.

Bartlett Tree Experts trimmed branches from the house. Henry Mickey said the workers estimated the tree trunk was 8 feet to 10 feet around. Crews plan to return Wednesday, and likely Thursday, to complete the job, he said, adding that the couple's insurance company would be there tomorrow to survey the damage.

Firefighters from spread a blue tarp over the damaged roof to provide protection from the rain.

The Mickeys have lived in their home at the end of the cul-de-sac, near Ohio River Boulevard, for 40 years, and said the site once was part of the Scaife Estate, which included a large number of trees.

The last time a tree fell on the couple's property it missed the house and went into the pool, Maria Mickey said.

Plenty of family members, friends and neighbors stopped over to see if the Mickeys needed help.

Maria Mickey said they would be fine. Despite the misfortune, she said, her dress shop on Beaver Street, which she has owned for 30 years, would remain open for business.

"I'm very dedicated," she said.