Smoking break saves woman from falling tree

South Carolina woman steps out for a cigarette — and house is crushed

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updated 1:42 p.m. ET April 18, 2007

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Smoking just might have saved Brenda Comer's life.

She said she had just finished washing dishes Monday and stepped outside to smoke a cigarette when an 80-foot oak tree crashed through her roof, landing across the sink where she had been standing just seconds before.

"Honey, I know you fuss at me for smoking," Comer said she told her husband. "But today it saved my life."

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The tree, felled by strong wind, also missed the couple's adult daughter, who was at the other end of the house.

Pills at hand
The family's insurance agent said they could not live there after the tree cut the kitchen and living room in half, scattering the contents of the kitchen cabinets.

"I looked down and saw a bottle with two pills," Comer said. "I thought, 'Well, I have a headache, and there's two Excedrin.'"