Amersham: Couple 'shaken' after tree falls on home during Storm Eunice

The strong winds, which saw the Met Office issue a red 'danger to life' warning throughout the county, caused the tree on Plantation Way to crash into the roof of Henning Tegnar and Irina Wade.

Irina, a paramedic, was in her home office when she looked out of the window to see the large tree outside her home towards her.

She is still suffering from flashbacks caused by the incident and says she "wouldn't wish it on anyone"

She said: "The fight or flight situation kicks in and you realise what if the building doesn't hold so I ran towards the stairs, I couldn't get very far but I managed to get out of the way from the window.

"I started to shake as it was quite scary.

"I was running on adrenaline but I am still suffering from flashbacks so it is hard to concentrate at work at the moment, it is unfortunate having to live the event over and over.

"It is not nice, the panic kicked it.

"We couldn't get outside, we opened the front door and a big branch was literally trying to poke through.

"We both sneaked underneath and managed to move our way to the branches and get to the road.

"I couldn't articulate things and luckily the neighbour opposite was on the ball and started to contact the council and the emergency services.

"I am a paramedic myself and when it happens to you and even though you are trained you mind doesn't to kick in."

Her partner Henning rushed downstairs following the loud crash but couldn't hear Irina at first.

He said: "I couldn't get her to answer me at first so it was a pretty frightening experience.

"She wasn't physically injured but it gave her quite a shock.

"She was pretty shaken up, we did see branches poking through the roof. There was a branch that went through the roof and into the office where she was sitting."

It has since been discovered the tree was rotted inside leaving it with no chance to withstand the high winds.

Henning continued: "The base was if not rotten it was damaged by fungus, it definitely wasn't healthy.

"We also spotted further up the tree it was rotted so that was clearly the reason why the tree fell. It just snapped at the base.

"It has all been left to us, the council has said they don't deal with damage to private property."

The pair were forced to frantically place buckets around the house to stop rainwater from causing more damage.

Irina added: "About a month ago we had new carpets in so it couldn't happen at a worst time, not that you would want it to ever happen.

"We were running around with buckets to cover the holes.

"It is quite shocking when it happened and having to deal with the aftermath is quite a piece.

"It is surprising that no one has investigated the tree, I am shocked that you would leave rotted trees around. To find out no one was looking after it, you can imagine my rage."