Calling it the ‘scare of her life,’ 91-year-old Betty Moore rode out Thursday’s storms as they rolled through North Branford.
As quickly as Thursday's storm blew through, it was over, but in that short period of time 91-year-old Betty Moore said six trees fell on her house and around her property.
“I started to scream 'cause the tree went through the roof,” Moore recalled.
As she stood upstairs in her home, Moore said she could feel the trees land right above her head.
“The first thing I thought about was my will and my pills,” said Moore.
With large trees blocking her front door, Moore made it out the side of the home with the help of neighbors. Then she saw the true extent of the damage.
“I cried,” she said. “There isn’t a place where there isn’t a tree.”
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Moore said her house served as the model home for the neighborhood, which her husband built 63 years ago. For now, it’s unlivable.
“The inside I have branches,” Moore explained. “There’s water damage all over, the water just poured into the TV room because there’s a hole on the side of the house.”
Just about every homeowner on Moore’s street is dealing with fallen limbs, leaves, branches or wires.
“I had to walk all the way in, climb over trees and live wires with a flashlight to find my way home” recalled Joseph Carofano.
Carofano rode out the storm in his car.
“It was unbelievable. I’ve never seen nothing like it. I had both my kids in the car. We were all scared for our life,” he described. “Nothing but dark funnel clouds and trees breaking like pencils.”
Only the trees have lived on Brook Lane longer than Moore. Some are uprooted, others lay splintered across her property.
“This is a first. I’ve been through 38 hurricanes, through hurricanes, 63 years these trees did not let me down but yesterday they did,” she said.
Like half the town, Moore’s power was still out a day after the storm, but she said she’s more concerned with getting the damage cleaned up so she can return to her home.
