VA Bartender Trying To Sleep Was Startled By A Loud Crash On Friday Morning

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Jose Garay had just gotten to bed around 4:50 a.m. on Friday after working late as a bartender, when he was startled by a loud crashing sound.

“I just shot out of bed,” he told Patch a few hours later. “I looked outside the window to see if there was any fire, because I thought it was explosions or something, and I saw a giant tree with cables all over the place.”

Garay had been living in the duplex home on Ardmore Circe for 14 years and estimated the tree to be about 20 to 30 years old. It had fallen over as thunderstorms passed over the city.

“The whole base of it just uprooted, and it collapsed on the back part of the house, just obliterating the backroom, coming down into a kitchen and just shattering the roof and everything back there,” he said.

Fortunately, no one was in the backroom, which Garay and the two other people in the house were using for storage. He the checked on his roommate and father, who was on the phone to the fire department.

“They're saying to just evacuate in case the foundation is unstable, so we just quickly made sure everyone was out and safe beforehand,” he said.

By 9 a.m., Dominion work crews had come and gone, removing debris and making sure their cables were safe and secure. However, power remained out on both sides of the duplex and Verizon crews hadn’t arrived yet to repair their overhead cable.

The three residents won’t be able to reenter the home until a huge portion of the tree that was still leaning against the structure in front of the doorway was removed.

“I don’t think I’m going to work today,” Garay said. “I haven’t been to sleep and all my clothes for work and everything are inside. After crawling over a tree and through mud to get out, I’d like to shower before I serve people food and drinks.”