Tree falls into Pawleys Island condo; no injuries reported

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. (WBTW) — No injuries have been reported after a tree fell in the backyard of a Pawleys Island condo on Sunday night.

The tree fell at about 9 p.m. at Pawleys Pointe.

A neighbor said their first thought was that someone on the top unit had dropped something heavy on the floor, but they soon realized a tree actually fell on their roof.

“We were watching TV and we heard a crackling sound, we didn’t know what it was. As it was crackling, we heard this big thud,” Chuck Villani said. “We went outside to see what was going on, and we noticed that the tree hit into the back of the building behind us and took down the whole rear unit of their rear side, and the tree was landed on the roof.”

Villani said the older trees have caused trouble in the neighborhood whenever storms roll around. He said he’s never seen something this major happen from a storm in his five years of living there.

“We do have issues with a lot of the trees. We got 60, 80, 100-foot trees that are in the back of this house and they’ve been there for a very long time. With these heavy winds, it’s causing a major problem, as you can see,” he said. “The ground can only hold so much water, and the weight and the wind will take down the tree real quick.”

A tree removal company worked all Monday morning and afternoon to safely remove it. The company’s owner said they considered using a crane to get the job done, but decided to do it “the old-fashioned way” by putting a service member in a bucket and sawing the tree.

Everything was removed from the roof by 3 p.m., with the next steps being yard cleanup and house repairs.

“I see they got the restoration team over here to put something going on the roof to hold it down until such time that they completely get it fixed and to take care of that fella’s unit,” Villani said. “Hopefully it’ll get done as soon as possible.”

The condo unit owners were not home at the time.

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Caleb is a digital producer at News13. Caleb joined the team in January 2023 after graduating from Liberty University. He is from Northern Virginia. Follow Caleb on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here .

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Carly Knowlton is a multimedia journalist at News13. She graduated from Penn State University in May 2024 and joined the News13 team in July 2024. Carly is from Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Follow Carly on Instagram , and read more of her work here .

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