Neighbor: Wind Brought Down Massive Pine Tree

Wind gusts reaching over 60 mph in Idaho Falls last week completely destroyed signs outside the Cal Ranch store on Anderson Street, and Salon 720 about a mile away on Holmes Avenue.

But possibly the most incredible wind damage is on Ada Avenue where a huge pine tree was completely uprooted. A neighbor who lives next door said if the tree had fallen just a little to the right, she would have been in big trouble.

“I was thinking, ‘Thank god it didn’t come on my car port and car,'” said Myrtle Corbett.

If the tree had been blown over about a dozen feet to the right, it would have hit Corbett’s house.

“It would have just wiped me out,” she said.

Corbett has owned her house on Ada Avenue since the 1970s. She’s lived next to the towering pine tree for a lot of that time, and it’s been tried and true despite years and years of strong winds.

“It’s always windy here, and I hate the wind,” said Corbett. “But nothing like this.”

She said she’s never felt wind anywhere near the strength she felt over the weekend. If the pine crashed into her house, it would have crushed her bedroom.

“I’m just so thankful it didn’t do anymore than it did,” she said.

But sigh of relief aside, Corbett said the very worst part is: the man who lives in the house is working out of state.

“I’ve just been feeling so bad for him, thinking, “That’s going to be awful to come home to,” said Corbett.

She said some of the man’s friends were able to get in touch and tell him what happened, so it won’t be a total surprise.