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Storm Topples Tree In Cooper City Neighborhood

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DAVIE (CBSMiami) - Overnight storms caused a bit of a mess in one western Broward neighborhood.

Richard Mure, who owns a home in the Rock Creek neighborhood, said just after 4:30 a.m. he heard a loud clap of thunder and a crashing noise.

"I happened to be awake and it was simultaneous lighting and thunder. It was the loudest thunder clap I had ever heard because the strike was so close," said Mure.

When he went outside to see may have caused the noise, he said at first he didn't realize what had happened.

Mure said a large tree which bordered his property at Lakeshore Drive and Stonebridge Parkway appears to have been hit by lightning which split it into pieces. It damaged Mure's fence a little, but it was his neighbor who really got a rude awakening.

"It was a loud boom, I thought a bomb had gone off. I thought it was just thunder," said John Olsen.

"It was just a huge noise just before the alarm went off which woke us up. We needed to get up anyway. We came down and the living room was in pure shambles," said Marion Olsen.

Olsen said was shocked to find her living room filled with shattered glass. A limb from the tree that fell in the middle of Stonebridge Parkway hit her sliding glass door and sent glass, and debris, flying into the house.

"The log came in through the bottom, sheered off those vertical blinds. The love seat was up against that, it shoved it out into the middle of the floor," said John Olsen.

"We're just lucky," said Marion Olsen. "I much rather it fall in there than in my bedroom."

It took a crew several hours to cut the tree up into manageable pieces and move them so they weren't blocking Stone Bridge Parkway. Many who live in the neighborhood said they were grateful no homes were severely damaged.

"It's just a reminder of the power of Mother Nature and her ability," said Mure.

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