Ivan the Terrible

Ever watched a huge tree fall down right in front of your house that could've easily killed you? I did...
That's my truck parked beside the mammoth oak that used to adorn my front yard. It's taken over 2 weeks to get it cut up, and it's not completely cut up yet...

I got up at my usual time of 5:45am that morning hearing the wind whistle around my house. I knew that old tree would be a prime target for Ivan, so it's the first thing I checked. It was fine. I walked out into my garage and didn't see anything out of the ordinary, other than the trees being blown by a strong wind from east to west. Walking back into my house, something told me to go look out the front door again at the big oak. No sooner had I looked out the door, when I heard a loud CRRRAAACCCKKK!!! noise. The center section of the tree leaned precariously against the west side of the tree limbs. I saw a split open down the center of the tree. For quite a few seconds, maybe even a few minutes, the tree stood like that. Then, I heard a gust of wind coming in the distance. I watched in awe as the wind grabbed the limb section the center of the tree was leaning on and split it aloose, pushing 1/3 of the tree trunk to the ground. Seconds later, the north side of the tree split off in another third. The last third standing was facing my garage, and the section I most feared would damage my house. I stood there for a while thinking how odd it was to see 1/3 of that big tree still standing. Then, as I began to think it wouldn't fall, CRRRAAACKKKK!!! Down it came, blocking my garage. I had to cut my truck out. It took 5 hours to get it out.