Trial by timber

By CASEY NEILL
PAUL Gilligan and his family are “devastated” and lucky to have escaped injury after a tree tore through the back of their Mount Evelyn home on Friday.
He had been working from home but was picking up his daughter Charlie, 5, from school when the backyard tree toppled into his Rangeview Road home.
Mr Gilligan was stopped at the Wray Crescent lights on York Road as fire trucks flew out of the station.
“I had a horrible feeling in my stomach,” he said.
“I knew we had three big trees around the house. I followed them home and up our driveway.
“It’s lucky nobody was in the house.”
Mr Gilligan, his wife and daughter moved into the newly-renovated home in late February.
“Everything was perfect,” he said.
“It’s devastating.”
Mr Gilligan wanted to remove the tree when he moved in and was now concerned about two others in his front yard.
SES volunteers advised him to stay out of the side of the house affected because it was unsafe.
See page 8 for more coverage of the wild weather.