‘If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry’: Wash. Co. woman says 10 trees fell on her house

By JEFFREY LINDBLOM

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    WASHINGTON COUNTY, Oregon (KPTV) — The weather that the Portland metro area has seen this week has caused problems for thousands, and the aftermath has left a heap of work for cleanup crews and for people across the area.

Gaylene Runey has been waiting for an arborist to come out to her home in Washington County for nearly a week and thought one was finally on their way Friday.

“[Their] truck slid off the road,” she said. “So, he couldn’t come today. Everyone is having problems.”

A week ago, Runey lost power and her home was pummeled by falling trees. Finally on Friday after days in the dark, her power was back on.

“I looked up and I saw trees falling,” Runey said.

She said she was in her bedroom trying to take a nap with her husband when she saw the trees start to fall.

“[I] hit the deck! I landed on the floor and was waiting to be impaled,” Runey said. “Then it was quiet.”

She walked into her attic where she found nearly a dozen branches poking through the roof.

“I always worried I’d have a tree falling,” she said. “I never dreamed I’d have 10.”

She said she thinks a creek running through her property loosened the soil and caused some of the trees to fall. She said she has counted 13 trees that have fallen on her property so far.

“I’m exhausted and my mind is hard to quiet,” she said.

Although the power is back on, fallen trees have left her without water or heat. Now, she’s dealing with frozen pipes and doing what she can to keep warm.

Runey said she has been living in her home for 47 years and it is full of memories. With all of the damage caused by the storm, she thinks it might be time to give up on the home that has been in her family for generations.

“At this point, I’m just ready to say ‘the heck with it’ and fix it later,” she said.

She said everything that needs to be done is burning a hole through her pocket.

“I sure need some help getting through this. It’s hard,” Runey said. “I need to find a bag of money somewhere.”

As a never-ending list of problems seems to grow, she said she is doing what she can to maintain her optimism.

“If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.”

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