Gold Coast woman lucky to be alive after tree traps her inside her home on Christmas

A Gold Coast woman said she was lucky to be alive after a tree came crashing down on her home, trapping her under a mountain of rubble.

Susan and David Hanmore, with their dog Gracie, were lucky to escape with their lives when a tree speared through their living room roof at Tamborine Mountain, in the Gold Coast hinterland, on Christmas night. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Susan Hanmore was watching television on Christmas night when a freak tornado ripped through her Tamborine Mountain home and sent the roof crashing down on top of her.

The 71-year-old grandmother was pinned under beams and a ceiling fan while trees skewered through the walls and violent winds tore through her home.

Eleven days later, there is still a gaping hole in the roof, a tree speared through the living room and debris strewn across the home, which Ms Hanmore has shared with husband David for 20 years.

Mr Hanmore with the tree that went through his home. Picture: Glenn Hampson

“We heard very loud noises that sounded like huge hail falling,” Ms Hanmore said. “My husband went to the front door, and I went to a fixed panel window to the left of it. He opened the front door, and he was just blown, blasted back. It took all his strength to close a huge, huge, huge, heavy door.”

Ms Hanmore described the terrifying moment she thought she was going to die after being trapped under a mountain of rubble from the roof.

“It knocked me to the floor, and all of the stuff that came down – the ceiling, beams, battens, even a bit of roofing iron and the ceiling fan.“

The power outage left them in complete darkness, adding to the sense of panic.

“I thought if this hasn’t killed me this minute, that’s going to kill me in the next minute because the roof just felt like it was going to keep crashing down.”

Mr Hanmore struggled to pull his wife to safety amid the debris and rising water.

“I was getting worried as I was getting cut and punctured, and eventually, he pulled me up, and we took shelter in a little room at the opposite end that wasn’t impacted,” he said.

Trapped inside and unable to leave, the couple sought refuge in their grandkids room.

“Several hours later we heard the beautiful sound of these gorgeous SES guys who couldn’t access our house because there was no road access for kilometres, so they’d had to hack their way to us.”

The couple have a long journey ahead of this before they can rebuild and return to their home.

We’d be lucky to be back there before Christmas this year, but the main thing is that we are both safe,” Mr Hanmore said.