Oxford resident Mark Skowneski had an unexpected and unwelcome late-night visitor when a massive tree fell over and crashed into his manufactured home on Hunters Rill, causing extensive and severe damage, in the wee hours of Sept. 12.

“It was a shock,” said the 59-year-old. “My first thought was, ‘Did a tornado just touch down?’ It was like boom, crash and

the house was destroyed.”

Skowneski, a renter in the Lake Villa Manufactured Home Community, arrived home from work and “had just walked in the door” at approximately 1 a.m. when the tree came down.

“It sounded like a bomb, to be honest with you. It sounded like something exploded. It was crazy,” he said. “The whole house shook. It moved. It was like an earthquake. A second later, the whole roof was down.”

According to Dustyn Kruger, of the Oxford-based Mr. Tree, the tree uprooted due to a combination of a rotting base, the moist soil around it and the fact that “it only had half a root system” supporting it. The tree smashed through the back corner of Skowneski’s home, which is where his bedroom is located.

“It went right across my whole bed,” he said. “It takes up the whole bed.”

As for the rest of the house, Skowneski said, “Pretty much every room got a hole in the ceiling. The ceiling collapsed in the master bedroom, in the kitchen and in the living room.”

“I just moved in six months ago. The house was brand new,” he added. “I was going to buy it, but not now.”

Fortunately, Skowneski was not injured. He was standing near the front door and got hit by some debris, but the part of the ceiling directly above him didn’t collapse.

“It didn’t come down on my head,” he said.

Skowneski now realizes timing is everything. “I feel real lucky,” he said, because if this would have happened a half-hour later, he would have been in bed with a tree on top of him.

“I’d be dead right now,” Skowneski said.

Skowneski is also glad he didn’t follow his usual routine. After he gets home and stops in the kitchen, he typically heads to the bedroom and bathroom.

This time, after stopping in the kitchen, he went to grab the television remote control near the front door. If he hadn’t done that, Skowneski said, “I probably would have been right in the middle of that thing coming down.”

For now, Skowneski is staying in a hotel, waiting for his living situation to be resolved. He seems to be taking it all in stride and grateful for the help he’s receiving.

“Insurance is doing a great job. They’re taking care of it,” he said. “The (manufactured home) park’s been really nice. They’ve been bending over backwards to make sure everything’s all right. They’ve been doing a good job, too.”