SUDDEN VALLEY, Wash. — Ring camera video outside Aaron Noice's home in Whatcom County during Tuesday's bomb cyclone storm sounded "apocalyptic."
"We could hear and see trees falling down and cracking everywhere. It was unbelievable," Noice said.
Noice and his wife had just returned home to see a tree had already fallen and rolled into their garage when they heard a loud noise.
"We heard the cracking and that sounds super close. Next thing you knew, we were standing here and watched it come down in real time," Noice said.
A massive tree fell on top of their garage and their home, nearly splitting it in half.
The moment was caught on their Ring security cameras, which showed three of their cats darting from the kitchen before the tree came through, sending debris flying in every direction.
The Noices and their four cats survived. One cat is blind, and in the video, it freezes in place and then ducks under debris.
"It's still very surreal," Noice said. "It's still just really intense to grapple with something we never experienced before."
Only minutes prior, they were inside the garage and his wife was inside the home.
"That's the thing that's sticking with me, just how close it was," Noice said.
Their home is currently unsafe to enter. Parts of the tree are still stuck in the debris.
"Every room sustained some damage from the impact," Noice said. "The whole living room and roof is torn. The garage is split in half diagonally."
Their home can be replaced or rebuilt. It was their first home together, where they poured a lot of time and energy into projects. They have lived there since 2020.
"We can't replace ourselves," Noice said. He emphasized how amazing the community has been in getting their belongings and figuring out the next steps in their process.