Monsoon storm knocks down massive tree onto Mesa home

MESA, Ariz. (KSAZ) - It was a sleepless night this family is sure to never forget.

"It sounded like really loud thunder.," Hannah Pimentel said. "It kind of sounded like a tree falling, but I assumed it was just one of my neighbors trees, like branch from one of my neighbors trees. I didn't expect it to be the entire tree from my front yard."

The Pimentels were headed for bed when last night's monsoon winds blew through their Mesa neighborhood and took this massive 50-year-old pine tree down with it.

"It sounded like the house was getting torn apart like in a hurricane or something," Jess Pimentel said. "It was that loud, it was unbelievable."

When daylight broke, the front lawn became a drive-by exhibit.

The family of nine says the damage came close to life-threatening. When the tree crashed over the master bedroom, branches pierced through the ceiling where one of the children sleep.

"When my mom first found out that the tree fell on our house, she was so worried because she thought my little brother was in that room, but he wasn't, thankfully," Hannah said.

Luckily, the family is OK, but neighbors and the Pimentels are still speechless at the devastating sight. The tree not only shared its shade, but it gave years of memories to this close community.

"We would say that with how big this thing is one day you would think a monsoon storm would take care of it and by God that day came," Terry Laufenberg said.

The tree that once stood several feet tall now no longer stands.