A fresh round of storms pounded the state of New York this week, doing serious damage in one Westbury, Long Island neighborhood on Aug. 10, 2026. According to Eyewitness News ABC7, the storms caused a tree to fall onto a home, trapping dozens of foster cats inside.
While the family was able to escape the home unharmed, the cats were left to fend for themselves while the property was deemed too unsafe to enter. The approximately 70-year-old tree had been a concern for homeowner Wendy Kimball, who admitted to reporters that she’d considered having it taken down before the storm.
Kimball’s house wasn’t the only one that was damaged in the storms. Tree experts spoke with the publication, saying that several homes on the same block had received damage. And it sounds like more than just the strong winds can be blamed for the issues Monday night.
That’s because storms from earlier in the summer had left the ground saturated, leaving the trees more vulnerable to falling in intense winds.
The Tree Grazed Kimball’s Brother Who Was Resting in Bed
According to Kimball, the falling tree almost took a tragic turn when it hit her home, since it almost landed on her and her brother. “I missed the tree by this much, and my brother was actually grazed by it in bed,” she recalled to Eyewitness News. “He was taking a nap. My brother is a stroke patient and a cancer patient.”
Kimball then reacted quickly, getting the rest of her family out of the home and to safety before anyone got hurt. However, in her rush to get out the door, Kimball had to leave her 37 foster cats inside, where they remained trapped. The next day, rescue workers came in to free the cats, but they were only able to get less than a third of them out of the house before being told to evacuate.
“They shut us down because it was unsafe, so we came out, an hour later, that whole roof and wall collapsed,” animal rescuer Deb Oliver told the reporter.
And that’s bad news for the foster cats, according to Long Island News, because Kimball rescues medically fragile cats to help rehabilitate them. “They’re my life,” Kimball said. “They come so much ahead of me and my well-being. I’m devastated because if they don’t let me in tomorrow, at least four are going to die.”
Unfortunately, as of Tuesday, experts still said the house was too unsafe to enter.
Kimball Never Removed the Aging Tree Due to Sentimental Reasons
While she admitted to considering taking it down, Kimball said that it held a special place in her heart. “The tree that came down was planted by my father, and my mother was a genealogist, and that’s a ‘family tree,'” she recalled.
Tree experts who were working in the area told Eyewitness News that Kimball’s “family tree” wasn’t the only one that came down, saying several had fallen and damaged nearby homes. “Normally, storm season is August, September, October; it’s been starting early,” We Care Tree Service’s Chris Juliano told the publication. “I mean, we’ve already had two mini storms actually in June.”
Tree Be Gone says that there’s a reason saturated soil causes trees to fall. According to the website, it’s a combination of factors, including the waterlogged soil that makes it harder for trees to find the support they need to remain upright in heavy winds.
Additionally, too much rain and moisture can keep the roots from getting the oxygen they need, reducing their strength. And while there can be signs that your tree is suffering below the roots (like leaning trees and lifted soil), sometimes there aren’t any warning signs before a tree falls in a storm, making it hard to predict exactly when it should come down, especially if it is sentimental to you, like Kimball’s tree was.