Watch: Patio roof blown off in wind storm narrowly misses striking homeowner
Leah RomeroLAS CRUCES – Ashley Aragon is lucky to be standing today after a patio roof — blown off in a wind storm Sunday — missed slamming into her by mere feet.
The Aragons — Steven and Ashley — live near Taylor Road and Valley Drive with two daughters, 5 and 2 years old. They’re expecting another child in a few months. They also have two dogs and a cat.
Steven said about 7:30 p.m. he found the portion of the home's roof that hangs over the couple backyard patio elevated by strong winds. He went outside in the storm and tried to hold it down by hanging onto a post.
Meanwhile, Ashley went to the front yard to move the couple's car, which was in danger of being struck by a portable basketball hoop also being moved by the wind.
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Steven couldn't hold the patio roof down and the 30-foot-wide structure flipped over the house and into the front yard, barely missing Ashley, who was able to jump out of the way.
A security camera captured the scary moment.
“It’s kind of surreal,” Steven said. “We’re just lucky that nobody was hurt, and we’re grateful that no one was hurt.”
A portion of the roof over the home and some of the bricks in the wall of the home were also ripped away, exposing about four to six feet inside. Steven said a neighbor helped stretch a tarp over the exposed area, but the home still sustained quite a bit of water damage.
Steven said family is working with their insurance company and contractors to assess the extent of the damage. The family will likely live in a hotel while the house is reconstructed.
He added that their home was built in the 1970s and a contractor said their patio roof was not up to today’s building standards.
More:'Mom, our roof fell off!': Las Crucen recounts Sunday night's storm
Many homes, parks and other structures in and around Las Cruces sustained damage Sunday amid a mighty storm cell that brought with it 60-mile-per-hour winds. A gust of 92 miles per hour was recorded north of Las Cruces, not too far from the Taylors' neighborhood.
Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, lromero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.