A Logan father and son are recovering after a tree fell through their home during Cyclone Alfred, causing significant damage.
Ryan Wey, who resides with his father Troy, was not at home when the tree came down on the night of 7 March.
While they weren’t affected by the cyclonic winds, the heavy downpour of rain was enough to erode the soil around a large tree, which had been planted near an easement between the homes of Mr Wey and his neighbour.
“It wasn’t really wind that dropped it,” Mr Wey said.
“The rain was just so relentless that day and into the night that the tree just gave way with the slightest gust.”
In a move that some people would call fate, Troy walked outside under their patio to have a look at the rain that was coming down.
Moments later, the tree came falling through their house, into the living room, where Troy was watching television.
“I was so bloody relieved he wasn’t under it,” Ryan said
“It was a big tree, and any other night he might fall asleep watching some TV. Someone was definitely looking out for him.”
Mr Wey wasn’t home at the time as he was moving his work-ute to a safer location for the incoming storm.
While he was heading to bed, he noticed he had 16 missed calls from his neighbour and Mr Wey only thought the worst.
“It’s never a good thing to receive that many missed calls so late at night,” he said.
“I opened one of the first text messages and it was an image from my neighbour of the tree leaning on our house. It was just surreal.”
The damage to the house was more extensive than initially apparent from the outside.
What seemed to be surface damage to the roof was actually a much deeper problem once Ryan entered the home.
“It really didn’t look that bad from the outside. It just looked like some tile and gutter damage,” he said.
“But when I walked inside it was just absolute chaos and everything was destroyed.”
Ryan’s belongings, that he’d only purchased a month prior, including his furniture, electronics, and personal items, were destroyed.
“It sucks because I spent so much money getting my room sorted with all this new stuff and it’s ruined,” he said.
“The furniture has insulation all through it so you can’t really try and fix that up. The only things that didn’t get destroyed were my clothes thankfully.”
In the aftermath, Mr Wey has moved in with a mate and Troy has moved into granny flat on the property, as the house was no longer liveable.
Ryan has since launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for repairs and to replace lost items.
“We’ve lost nearly everything and due to some different circumstances, we weren’t insured,” he said.
“We just need some support to rebuild and replace what was lost.”
Mr Wey, an apprentice carpenter, is also hoping to start the process of rebuilding, though he admits that he faces significant challenges.
“I know some stuff about construction, but as a second-year chippie, it’s not enough to take on a project of this size,” he said.
“It’s going to be a day-by-day process.”
