Woman injured when tree falls on house

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A woman was reaching for a glass in a kitchen cabinet when a huge tree being removed from the adjoining lot fell the wrong way. It smashed her into house at 1104 Hickory St. about 5:15 p.m. Friday.

Patricia Montiel was injured when the cabinets were knocked off the wall and a microwave on a shelf above the range hood fell down.

"It was like a bomb or earthquake. The whole place shook. It was worse than an earthquake," Montiel said. "Insulation was flying around, Sheetrock was falling down, and pictures were knocked off the walls. We could see daylight through the roof in the kitchen, our bedroom and the bathroom."

She was taken by ambulance to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, where she was treated and released.

Austin Sutton of Bob Sutton Real Estate and Loans, which owns the destroyed rental house, said Montiel's hand "was badly bruised, but not broken. She also had a bruise on her back."

Her husband, Gabriel, and their two sons, Gabriel Jr., 8, and Alexis, 6, were not hurt. Her husband was in the living room, and the boys were in their bedroom. The family's dog also escaped injury.

Sutton reported the family had renter's insurance and is living in a hotel while other living arrangements can be made for them.

He said the house was built with concrete walls that "stopped the tree from falling farther down."

Patricia Montiel said the tree was "continuing to settle in the house" when she returned Monday to salvage some possessions.

Randy Matkin of 1106 Hickory St. said he was asleep when the tree slammed into his neighbors' house and awakened him. He went next door to make sure the family could get out. He described the tree as a 200-year-old red oak.

Butler County property records indicate the owner of the rental house is Radek Mensik of Poplar Bluff.

Sutton said Mensik had hired some workers to remove the tree and had cut off some limbs before it fell.

"It fell the opposite way they were trying to get it to fall," Sutton said.

One branch also fell across a trailer that belonged to the workers. They cut the branch and moved out the trailer.

A city ordinance requires all tree removal workers to be licensed to work in the city and be bonded.

"They were cutting down the tree for firewood. They were not licensed or bonded," Patricia said.