A large tree that fell in the yard of an Azalea District resident’s home is seen Wednesday.

Lindsey Kleam and her family were getting ready for bed Tuesday night as the lights started flickering in their home near Golden Road Park in Tyler, and “suddenly everything started crashing.”

Storms moving through the area that spurred tornado warnings and caused tens of thousands of East Texans to lose power sent a tree crashing into the Kleams’ home. Kleam said the experience was terrifying, but she is glad they were unharmed.

Kleam said she was in the bedroom and saw the closet doors come toward her as a tree came through the roof above it. Meanwhile in the living room, her daughter and husband watched the roof come down.

She then moved her children to the bathroom.

“When the rubble cleared a bit, we realized there was a tree in our ceiling,” Kleam said. “I put the children in the bathtub, thinking it was a tornado, and started gathering clothes. Once we realized it was safe to move about the house, we gathered a few outfits each and our most precious belongings and evacuated to my in-laws’.”

A roofing company on Wednesday was helping the family clean up and to cut down the tree. Kleam said the family knows the storm brought rain and high winds, but she wonders if there might have also been a small tornado.

She said most of the family’s larger items in the living room — couch, chair, rug, TV and TV stand — are ruined. The couch was one of the last items she had from her late father. Losing it was heartbreaking, she said.

“I was terrified, anxious, but I’m thankful that no one was hurt,” Kleam said.

Residents in Tyler’s Azalea District agreed that Tuesday night’s storm was one of the worst they have experienced.

“We’ve lived here 42 years, and we’ve never had anything like this happen,” Lucinda Morgan said.

Around 9 p.m. Tuesday, Morgan and her husband went outside to look around when they found their truck and car under a large tree limb. They cut up what they could and managed to get the vehicles out.

As the couple worked Wednesday to clear their yard of debris, Morgan said she was surprised to see so many large trees had fallen.

“To my knowledge, nobody was hurt,” she said. “We’ll just plant some new trees. You can repair houses, but as long as people are OK.”

At another Azalea District residence, a 100-year old oak tree was struck by lightning.

The homeowner’s son, Brent Mendoza, said he came over Tuesday night and saw the garage had almost caught on fire from the lightning and the tree had fallen onto the neighbor’s house “destroying it.”

“I’m new to Texas, but I’ve been coming in and out of here since ‘93,” Mendoza said. “This is the worst storm I’ve ever seen in my life.”

The windows of some houses also were blown out.

Contractor Dan Weathersby said he has been working to renovate a home in the Azalea District and found some of the windows blown out Wednesday morning.

“With mother nature, you just never know,” he said. “It has a mind of its own.”