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Caught on Camera: Tree Falls on Historic Church in Pleasanton

A tree fell on a historic church in Pleasanton Tuesday afternoon and the incident was caught on tape. 

Brianna Armario had her cell phone out and recorded at the very moment a cypress tree collapsed into the Lighthouse Baptist Church.

She lives across the street and rushed over to make sure everyone was OK. Thankfully no one was hurt.

But the news is making waves in the community, with parishioners going to the site to see the damage for themselves.

“Totally bizarre,” said Nancy Meglen.

The church’s pastor, Bill Bryson, and his wife Carol Bryson, were on the other side of the building when the tree collapsed.

Carol said it was still hard for her to make sense of exactly what happened.

“I could see the opening and the debris and the wide open sky and I’m thinking something has happened. I had no idea what, I didn’t know if it was a bomb, you know? Because I’ve never experienced this before,” she said.

Carol soon realized the tree collapsed into the church’s nursery and called her husband to come down immediately.    

He pointed out that if this was a Sunday, kids would’ve been inside.

“We praise the lord for that, if it was a Sunday it would be a completely different type of story we’re covering today,” said Bill

Their story, while scary, isn’t unique.   

Trees crashed down all across Pleasanton, including a tree that toppled down from the yard of one home, into a neighbor’s fence.

As for the church, the tree didn’t damage the chapel and the plan is to move forward and work to get the nursery back up and running as time allows.

“The main structure of the building is sound, it’s secure. The offices weren’t touched, the school is still able to operate so it’s just the one wing that came out.” said Bill.

As far as next steps for the church, they’ve been in touch with their insurance company and a restoration company will arrive to start boarding things up. Repairs to the nursery may take up to a tear.


Source: NBC Bay Area

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