Close call for Eagledale home after wind knocks down trees

An Eagledale home escaped major damage — but the garage next to it did not — after two 80-foot-tall Douglas fir trees came crashing down during this weekend’s whipping winds.

No one was at home when the two trees, part of a small clump of three Doug firs at the corner of the front yard, snapped their shallow roots and went horizontal.

One of the homeowners, who asked not to be identified, said he’d been worried for a while that the prevailing winds that blow through the property along the wind-tunnel gully of Whiskey Creek would take down the trio of firs someday.

He was in Poulsbo, and his wife was with family in Seattle, when the trees toppled during a weekend of strong winds that left hundreds without power on Bainbridge and slowed ferry sailings late into the night Saturday.

A neighbor who was using a pressure washer heard the trees fall over, even with ears plugged due to the noise of the machine. She looked over at the sound of a big “Crack!” and saw the firs fall down.

She sent her neighbors a picture of the trees on their house. But pictures can be deceiving. The couple returned home to find their house largely spared — whew — but the garage, a total loss.

The two Doug fir, though, pancaked the garage.

And they were not only long, but large. The bigger of the two fir looked to be about 30 inches thick.

The garage was a total loss. Crushed kayaks, and a canoe, could be seen poking out one end Monday.

Still, the garage (storage space for “trash and treasures,” homeowners said) appeared to largely buffer the impact of the big trees on the home, though it was easily apparent Monday that some solar panels had been totaled, along with some damage to the metal roof.

Inside the home, there were cracks in the drywall, but nothing looking too severe.

Could have been worse.

“It’s a miracle to walk in the kitchen, seeing the salt shaker where I left it,” said one of the residents.

A tree crew, and a crane to pluck the two trees of the home, was brought in Monday.