Tree crashes through Wareham home, nearly crushes couple inside

WAREHAM, Mass. — A couple in Wareham is lucky to be alive after a tree came crashing through their home during last week's nor'easter.

Like most people during a bad storm, Betty Russell and her husband, Ronald, were relaxing at home when suddenly vicious wind gusts blew down a tree right onto their house.

"I saw it, he didn't," said Betty. "My husband had just got from out the kitchen. We heard nothing, it just went down through the ceiling - I saw everything coming down."

Still visibly shaken, Betty's voice shakes as she recounts the story. Ronald, on the other hand, is still struggling to talk about what happened.

"He can't talk about it, he tries," said Betty.

Impressively, Betty and Ronald, along with their dog, escaped the ordeal unscathed.

After hearing what happened, their daughter and son-in-law came by to help salvage what's left of their belongings.

"It's upsetting to see them go through this, see them cry, see them, not themselves,” said Patrick Maxim, the Russell's son-in-law. "I'm thankful everyday nobody was hurt, it hit my wife really, really hard, it is her parents.”

Maxim is helping out his in-laws by starting an online fundraiser to help pay for a new apartment.

You can help the Russells by clicking here and donating to their GoFundMe page.

"I don't know what we're going to do because we have no money, we're both retired," said Betty.

The Russells have owned this home for 23 years, so saying good-bye isn't easy, but they're trying to move on.

Their house wasn't the only one affected by the storm. The next door neighbor says the tree also hit their roof, causing a leakage.

Cox Media Group