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Tree Bashes Home In Valrico

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By NATALIE SHEPHERD | News Channel 8

Published: June 13, 2008

A Valrico man is keeping a sense of humor about the job Mother Nature did remodeling his home.

He came home from work Thursday to find a 60-foot tree poking through his bedroom ceiling at 1903 Cimmaron Run Drive.

"I had to laugh. What more can you do?" Ken Butler said. "It's pretty surprising, seeing a tree grow in your house."

The hole is right over his now soaking-wet water bed. "My wife is going to be quite surprised," Butler said.

Neighbors rushed over to see the damage. "He called us as soon as I got home and said, 'Come down here; you'll see something you've never seen before,' " Nadia Garbaj said. She suspects lightning toppled the tree.

"It's got a huge crack the whole way down, and it was a pretty sturdy tree. We were always climbing it," Garbaj said.

When Butler climbed on the roof, he saw the tree lying across the roof above the bedrooms, kitchen and dining room.

"Luckily, it didn't cause more damage. Luckily, we weren't [here] in the middle of the night," he said. "I think we're pretty darn lucky."

Lucky, he says, even though the roof was redone two years ago.

A crew is supposed to remove the tree today.

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