Armance Kay awoke early, around 4:30 a.m. to the brewing storm Wednesday. Unable to sleep, she tuned into the news to keep tabs on weather conditions when her house suddenly shook. 

“I heard a really big thud and then the power went out. Then I went outside and saw this,” she said. “I was very surprised.” 

What she saw was the towering honey locust tree that once stood tall outside her Coeur d’Alene home on Fifth Street just north of Harrison Avenue was instead resting on her roof, ripped from the ground by winds estimated at around 70 mph. 

“I’m going to have to get a new roof,” Kay said as she watched the Blake’s Tree Service crew cut away the tree’s remains Wednesday afternoon, with temperatures in the low 40s. 

Shaken, but OK, Kay was relieved the damage wasn’t worse. She has family around for help and said while the home had no power, it was livable. 

“It could have gone right through my kitchen window into my kitchen,” she said.  

Kay said that as she listened to the wind roar that morning, she knew something would come down.  

"I had no idea it would be this bad,” she said. 

Blake Desjardins, owner of Blake’s Tree Service, said numerous calls came in seeking his help clearing and removing fallen trees from property. 

He said the roughly 100-year-old tree that hit Kay’s home went through it in five places and cracked the A frame. 

“She’s going to need a new roof,” Desjardins said. 

Just around the corner at Sixth and Spokane streets, Elk Ridge Tree Care was removing pine trees that came down in the windstorm. Two were pulled out by their roots and one snapped. 

No homes were damaged, but a vehicle was struck.

“They got real lucky,” said Sheldon Waterhouse, owner of Elk Ridge Tree Care.  

He said the combination of heavy rains that saturated the ground and strong winds took down a number of trees around downtown.

“We’re getting lots of calls today,” Waterhouse said. 

Climatologist Cliff Harris said he recorded a high of 57 degrees at 4:30 a.m. and about 25 minutes later a rare December thunderstorm hit the area.

In minutes, a quarter of an inch of rain fell and the temperature dropped 13 degrees. Harris measured a wind gust of 69 mph at 5:35 a.m.

“The strongest wind I ever recorded in Coeur d’Alene,” Harris said, adding some areas had winds of 70-80 mph. 

It was a day Desjardins had not planned or wanted to work. Not only was it his wife’s birthday, but she was also having contractions. 

“But I’ve got to be here to make sure this goes well,” he said, with a smile. 

    Sheldon Waterhouse, right, owner of Elk Ridge Tree Care, and his crew clear trees from Sixth and Spokane streets on Wednesday afternoon.
  

    A tree om Fifth Street in Coeur d'Alene came down during Wednesday's windstorm.