A massive tree that blocked a St Johns Hill driveway on Friday is now firewood.
Irene Back briefly thought a hurricane was blowing outside her house when the towering tree on her berm came crashing down over her driveway.
"It's just weird, just a whishing sound, as you can imagine," Mrs Back said outside her home on Tarata St in St Johns Hill.
"It was more like a whirlwind, a whistling. I don't know why it made that sound. I heard a thump and I felt things shudder. I thought 'oh my goodness, something awful's happened. It was probably a natural disaster of some sort.'
"It was so dramatic, it's uprooted completely. It's a hole in the ground - quite a big hole."
She said the tree was blown down in the rough winds about 2-2.30pm on Friday.
The tree fell sideways, missing Mrs Back's house but blocking the driveway.
"It was very gracious in its fall. There's hardly a speck of damage. It might have trimmed one or two of the shrubs. It couldn't have fallen more graciously.
"I love trees and that one's just been such a joy all the years I've lived here. No doubt it will be replaced with another tree."
Mrs Back has been living in the house for 45 years.
"It will make good firewood for someone," she said.
Council sent workers to chop up and remove the tree on Friday afternoon.