Mesa grandmother hospitalized after tree crushes home during monsoon

PHOENIX — The devastation from a massive monsoon storm that swept through the Phoenix area earlier this week is continuing to surface.

Ellen Oso, a grandmother and Mesa native, is currently hospitalized after a 150-foot pine tree crushed the roof of her home and fell on top of her, impaling her leg.

Her granddaughter, Tamika Mollett, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Mac and Gaydos that a branch from the tree cut an inch-and-a-half deep into Oso’s right thigh. She also has cuts and bruises on her back and forearm.

“It was really scary,” she said. Mollett said that she went to close a door after a strong gust of wind blew it open when the tree fell. She said it shook the house.

Mollett said her grandmother was in bed when the tree came crashing down. Mollett said she was also in the home when the incident occurred, along with her brother and uncle.

“My brother and I ran into my grandma’s room and saw the tree had come down and was stabbing her in the leg,” she said.

Luckily, Mollett said firefighters were able to remove the branch from her grandmother’s leg before transporting her to the hospital, but the damage to the house has made it “not livable.”

“At the moment, we don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said.

The family has launched a GoFundMe in an effort to raise $30,000 to “relocate, recover and rebuild,” the page read. The fundraiser has brought in more than $7,600 as of Thursday.

“We have lost everything due to the storm. We are devastated at the loss of our family home, but we are hopeful that we can rebuild,” the page read.

Mollett said her grandmother was a teacher for 30 years and suffered a stroke in 2009, leaving her disabled and rendering her family members to care for her.

“We do not have money laying around and are reaching out to the public in any way they can,” she said.

An unidentified woman was also rescued after her car went into a Mesa canal on Monday after the storm. A Safeway grocery store in Phoenix also caught on fire amid a roof collapse after rain storms moved through the area Tuesday.

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