Video: High winds take down tree, power line at 57th & Palatine | Weather

Barbara Hoffman was taking stuff out of her SUV when the wind started whipping up this afternoon.

She eyed a giant madrona tree and decided to move her Honda Civic out of the driveway.

After she went inside her house, she heard a boom she described as "an amazing, natural God kind of sound."

She went outside to find a branch the size of a tree trunk on the ground, and a power line down. Several other branches were strewn about. One of them dented her Suburban, which was blocked by the debris.

The force of the downed tree was so strong that it yanked the power meter out and left it dangling from the side of the house.

Hoffman said if she hadn't moved her Honda it would've gotten "squashed."

"I'm so glad I did that," she said.