I live on the West Coast of British Columbia with my husband and three children. Our day started like any other day. My husband left for work in the north of the town, which is an hour and a half’s drive. The younger children caught their bus to school ten minutes away. Our oldest attends high school and it is a 40-minute drive away. I work at home, working on the computer.

It was November 2006 and the news had reported gusty winds. When the winds started to get strong I shut the computer down and tried to phone my husband. I left a message telling him the winds were blowing at 80 to 90 km/hr. As I hung up the phone, I heard a tree crack. I went outside and stood in the driveway. Another tree exploded and my heart was racing.

When the school bus carrying the youngsters arrived, I ran to get them. No sooner had we made it to the house than another tree exploded. The children were clearly scared, so I loaded them into the car and we parked in the middle of the yard, where no trees could land on us, it was starting to get dark.