‘It Went Through the Ceiling’: An Uprooted Tree Crashed Into Brent and Jill Bishop’s Excelsior Springs Bedroom Seconds After They Fled to the Basement

A large uprooted tree crashed through the bedroom ceiling of Brent and Jill Bishop’s Excelsior Springs, Missouri, home during a Tuesday night storm, only moments after the couple left the room for the basement. Nobody was hurt.

“It went through the ceiling,” Brent Bishop told KSHB 41. He is the city’s assistant public works director, so he knows what a night of downed trees looks like from the other side. This time the damage was in his own yard, and in his own ceiling.

Water Rolling In Through the Bedroom Ceiling

Bishop described the moment in plain terms: the tree “punctured” the ceiling, and “water just started rolling in.” The trunk also crushed the home’s air conditioning unit, which sat beneath it. Until the tree can be lifted off, the full structural and utility damage is unknown.

Jill Bishop pointed to the room where the couple had been lying “like seconds before it hit.” Brent Bishop said he had not grasped the size of the tree until he saw it on the ground, and called the cleanup ahead “a long road.” Jill Bishop spoke of “guardian angels” watching over the family.

The move to the basement is the step weather officials recommend. The National Weather Service tells people at home to go to a secure room when a severe thunderstorm warning is issued, and warns that sheltering under a tree can be deadly because the tree may fall.

Neighbors Who Could Not Use the Front Door

The Bishops were not the only Excelsior Springs family with a tree to deal with. Thalia Harris and Rick Holman live next to each other, and a tree came down between their two houses, damaging both properties.

Harris said the storm “sounded like a freight train had come through” and “the whole house shook.” Her family could not leave through the front door until crews arrived with chainsaws.

Holman said he felt blessed that the tree fell between the houses, because it could have taken out either one. He also said it was hard to do anything until help arrived.

Excelsior Springs police officer Ryan Dowdy said the 911 line rang without stopping for about four to five hours. Dispatchers took hundreds of calls about downed trees and small fires started by power lines or transformers, and many roads were blocked. Bishop said it was hard even to get around and show people where the worst of the debris sat.

The Same Storm Hit Liberty, Gladstone and Parkville

The Bishops’ neighborhood was one of many. A second KSHB report on the Northland storm described winds of 75 mph that arrived during a Liberty High School choir concert, after a thunderstorm warning was upgraded to a tornado warning. School officials moved students and guests to a shelter beneath the stage, and no serious injuries were reported.

Dozens of large trees fell across the area, and homes and vehicles were damaged in Liberty, Parkville and Gladstone. Arborist Alex Mullock of A&M Tree Care said his company took dozens of calls overnight, and that the storm finished off trees already weakened by earlier storms this year.

Other homeowners have taken similar hits this fall. A more than 100-year-old pine in Cary crashed into Katherine Loflin’s home, and in North Carolina, Kim Siems helped neighbors clear fallen trees after the Oct. 11 tornadoes.

In Gladstone, Tony and Kristiana Yang had an uprooted tree across their driveway and yard, and a downed power line trapped the family inside for a time. They hired a company to remove the largest tree, and relatives and neighbors handled the rest, wearing goggles, gloves and steel-toed boots, according to KSHB’s cleanup story.

Michael Corcoran of Hello Tree Care told the station that professional cleanup costs vary with the damage, and that one job with a whole tree on a patio ran about $3,000. He said homeowners can save money on smaller work, but should hire a professional for large pieces of wood or for trees that have fallen onto a house. He also recommended getting multiple bids.

What Weather and Tree Experts Say Comes Next

Once the wind passes, the National Weather Service says to check property only after the severe weather is over and to wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt and sturdy shoes when walking through debris. Downed power lines should be reported to local authorities, damaged buildings should be avoided, and homeowners should watch for insurance scammers.

For the tree itself, the International Society of Arboriculture’s tree owner pages point to brochures on storm-related tree damage and on why to hire an arborist, along with an arborist directory. A tree that has come down on a roof is usually a job for a crew with the right equipment, as Harris’s family found when chainsaws were needed just to open a front door.

For the Bishops, the full cost stays unknown until the tree is gone. What they do know is how close the timing was: a bedroom they were lying in seconds earlier, and a basement that kept them safe.

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Nicole Johnson – CC BY 4.0/Wikimedia Commons