A Leura couple is thanking their lucky stars after they came away unscathed when a huge gum tree crashed through the roof of their house and broke parts of the ceiling, missing their bed by inches.
Jack and Linda Watford were startled by a huge crashing noise at 7am on a wild and windy Tuesday (June 9).
Amazingly, it was the second time in less than eight months that a large tree has fallen on to the roof of their Hartley Esplanade home.
"A large oak tree fell onto the front part of the house in November and the final repairs to the tiles and solar panels are only just being finished," Mr Watford said.
"Now this happens - it's dead unbelievable."
The damage this time was far greater because the tree crashed through the roof and pierced the ceiling cavity, but luckily the brick walls were able to support the bulk of the tree.
"I was in bed at the time and heard a massive bang and then saw parts of the ceiling crash all around me, but I was okay," Mr Watford said.
"My wife just happened to be in another bedroom at the time, checking if our nine-year-old grandson, who was staying overnight with us, was awake.
"If she'd walked back in a few moments before she might have been hit.
"We all ran to the far end of the house."
Mr Watson said Blue Mountains SES volunteers were an enormous help in the aftermath of the fallen oak tree in November and called in again last Tuesday to inspect the damage.
"The volunteers do an amazing job, but this time around my insurance company [Coles Insurance] were very prompt and arranged for a crew to come over that day with a truck and a small crane to clear the tree away and they finished the job the next morning.
"Then they placed a tarp over the bedroom just before it rained the next day.
"They'll be taking the rest of the collapsed parts of the ceiling away and then an engineer will come and make an assessment.
"So we've gone from having five large trees on our property to three, but the remaining ones are a bit further out."
Blue Mountains SES rescue officer Jimmy Carothers, who came over to assist the Watfords after both tree falls, told the Gazette if their house was made of wood instead of brick, "the tree could have crashed right through and the couple might be in intensive care right now".
"My first thought when I saw the damage was that they were really unlucky to have another tree fall onto their roof," Mr Carothers said.
"But then I told them they were extremely lucky to have escaped without any injury and they ought to think about buying a Lotto ticket this week."