A pub manager managed to escape unscathed by the skin of her teeth after a tree was topped during Storm Arwen. You can see the terrifying security footage in then video below.
Cheryl Pound was just having a cigarette and minding her own business outside The Star in the Welsh town of Bridgend at around 1:32am on Saturday morning when the strong winds brought down a massive tree that mercifully crashed down just inches away from her.
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Had she have been standing in a slightly different part of the pub garden – well – it doesn’t bear thinking about.
Storm Arwen has already claimed the lives of two people who were killed by falling trees, one in Norther Ireland and another in Ambleside, Cumbria.
Thankfully, Cheryl enjoyed a remarkable piece of luck, and the tumbling timber missed her.
The 55-year-old said: : "The pub had shut and I went out for a cigarette before finishing cleaning up. The next thing I get attacked by a tree!"
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Now, she’s not a religious person, but it does seem as if she believes that something else was at play there, and credits her luck to an interesting twist of fate.
She said: "That cigarette saved my life," she laughed. "I'm not superstitious at all.
“But there must be something up there. I think if I wasn't under the shelter I would definitely be dead."
"We'd been serving behind the bar all night and it was windy but I wasn't really concerned. I was just having a cigarette and I heard a crack.
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“I honestly thought someone had jumped the wall.
"As you can see in the footage, I went to walk out of the shelter and I don't know why but something told me to step back.
“The next thing I knew the tree just came down."
After her ordeal, Cheryl said that she experiences a ‘slight’ adrenaline rush, but ultimately just crawled through the branches of the tree and went back inside the pub and told her colleagues what had happened.
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"Tanner the doorman and Lorraine the karaoke lady were in there. I said, 'Did you hear that big bang?' They said they hadn't.
"I told them, 'We have a tree in our garden.' They came out and were absolutely shocked. When we went upstairs and took the footage off the camera I couldn't believe how close I was.
"There's quite a bit of damage.
“They're still getting rid of the tree and there are four tables broken, with umbrellas. It damaged the smoking shelter too."
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"It's one big happy family working here,
"Not many people can say they love their job but I love my job. Everyone's chuffed that I'm still here, shall we say."
Featured Image Credit: Reach PLC