Timber trouble

By CASEY NEILL
TWO six-tonne pine trees falling through their roof and another crushing their car was yet another hit from 2012 for the Barbers.
Noeleine and her husband John were sitting in the front room of their two-storey Macclesfield home, which has a brick base, about 11pm on Wednesday 5 September.
Their son Joshua was in the back of the house and felt it shudder as two 50-metre trees came down on top of it during the wild winds that lashed much of Victoria for three days. The impact destroyed their bathroom and laundry, but Noeleine and John were unaware of the damage until the terrified Year 12 student rushed in to deliver the news. They went to investigate.
“That’s when we saw the sky,” Mrs Barber said.
The trees had brought down their verandah, trapping the trio inside.
“We couldn’t get out of the house,” she said.
“And the branches kept falling.”
They huddled near their wood heater, hoping it would hold any other branches that fell.
“The wind was blowing unbelievably,” Mrs Barber said.
“We thought the windows were going to blow in.”
Another tree fell in their front yard, crushing her car. It took about 18 SES volunteers four hours to cut them free.
“The SES are just amazing,” she said.
“The wind was howling and it was raining. We were really glad they got to us.”
Making the escape more difficult was the fact Mrs Barber was in a wheelchair following a sickening car crash on 24 May this year.
She was driving along Glenfern Road in Upwey with Joshua about 11.30pm when a probationary driver lost control of his car in the rain and ploughed into the pair.
Mrs Barber was in and out of intensive car at The Alfred hospital for three months.
“To be alive is a mini-miracle,” she said.
“I’m just hoping that 2012 is over shortly.”
They were returning home following her graduation with a Bachelor of Nursing from Monash University when the accident happened.
She’s scheduled to have more major surgery on 23 October and continue her rehabilitation, and hopes to return to work at Maroondah Hospital.
“I’ll be happy when the surgery’s over,” she said.
Joshua is studying for his VCE at St Joseph’s College in Ferntree Gully.
“Our son is so brave,” she said.
“He’s been through so much trauma. It’s been terrible for him.
“But at least we’re alive.”