‘Guys you need to play the lottery today’: tree falls near Semmes Avenue house, causing only minor damages

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Storms caused chaos throughout the city of Richmond on Friday evening, knocking out streetlights, powerlines, debris and more.

However, what happened along Semmes Avenue could have been much worse, citizens in the area told 8News. A large tree broke apart and fell to the ground on a busy street, right in front of two houses. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the damage was minimal.

One man told 8News he was happy the incident will not affect his job.

Richard Sena is a real estate agent in Richmond. He told 8News that the houses affected are vacant, but residents are expected to move in soon. He said didn’t know what to expect when he arrived at one of the houses.

“I got a call not too long ago from my clients letting me know that, ‘aye, there might be a tree falling down’ — hoping it was not the big tree in the yard that we were always concerned about,” Sena said.

“I’ve seen trees go down on properties but nothing of this magnitude as far as the size of the tree and as big of a crisis averted,” Sena added.

Somehow, the large tree did not collide fully with the houses. There was slight damage to a window and other small-scale damages. Sena told 8News he won’t miss the opportunity to count his blessings and tell his clients to do the same.

“I was just here Facetiming and walking around and the first thing I said was, ‘guys, you need to play the lottery today because this could’ve been a serious crisis that was averted,’” Sena said.

According to Sena, insurance will cover the damages on the houses.