“Powerlines were down everywhere, trees were down everywhere and leaves were just covering the road.”

Rain had stopped, but minimal lighting made it tough for Mr Howlett to negotiate his way safely.

He got the call about 8.45pm from his wife.

She had been in the front room – their three-year-old son’s room – looking out the window watching the storm roll in.

Then there was a huge crack.

“She was just lying in the window and watched the tree in our front yard come falling towards her,” Mr Howlett said.

“She grabbed our son and ran to another room.”

Mr Howlett said they were lucky.

The tree did little damage to their house; most of its weight fell on the steel side fence.

Roots, ripped out from their tight grip in the earth, lay exposed and useless.

He raced home to their Marina Drive house from work – all the way on the other side of town at Mars Confectionary.

Mr Howlett was unsure what to expect when he did reach home.

Debris was everywhere in the aftermath of the storm.

Neighbours walked about the area, checking on each other, some meeting for the first time.

Mr Howlett said looking around at what the storm had inflicted, his family was simply “pretty lucky”.