Storm Eunice created mayhem across the country, but one family's home has been partly destroyed after a 400-year-old oak tree crashed into it.
Dominic Good was in a work conference call at his home on Friday morning when he heard an "almighty crash".
The 57-year-old said his family are "very lucky" that no one was injured after the huge oak tree crashed through the roof of their house in Brentwood during Storm Eunice.
The father-of-two said his wife Emma, his 23-year-old son Sven and his son's girlfriend Anna Parnanen had all been in different rooms of the house working when the tree crashed down.
He said: "A big gust just snapped the base of the massive oak tree in our garden, that is probably around 400 years old.
"The whole tree fell on the northwest corner of the house and the roof took the brunt of it.
"The roof is pretty much destroyed, and my son and my daughter's bedrooms are completely filled with rubble."
His son also had his Mazda MX5 car "completely crushed" by the branches of the toppled oak.
Mr Good said: "My son was in the room directly below (where the tree hit) so he actually witnessed it.
"He just grabbed his laptop and grabbed the dog and ran out of the room."
The family had predicted there could be some storm damage from the huge gusts of wind but "never expected" the level of destruction that transpired.
"I was concerned that a branch might strike the house or something because it was incredibly strong wind, but that was something else," said Mr Good.
"We were very lucky that none of the dogs or the people that were in the house were affected in any way...other than just breathing in dust."
The family were able to spend the night in their home but are unsure as yet if this will be possible once the tree is removed.
Mr Good added: "We spent the rest of Friday trying to salvage stuff out of the rooms but everything is covered in dust and rubble and was just a general mess.
"I think probably once they remove the tree from the house they will have to knock down quite a large part of the house and rebuild it.
"We will just have to speak to the insurance company and take it from there."
At least four died in the UK and Ireland during one of the worst storms in decades, which saw gusts of winds of 122mph provisionally recorded at the Needles on the Isle of Wight.
The bad weather is set to continue all weekend and the Met Office has issued a yellow warning for wind covering the entire south coast and south-west Wales until 6pm on Saturday and a yellow snow warning for parts of northern England from 11am until 3pm.
The powerful storm has resulted in planes struggling to land in high winds, damage to the roof of the O2 arena in London, and the spire of St Thomas Church in Wells, Somerset, crashing to the ground.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said previous similar storms have cost around £360 million in repairs.
Hundreds of journeys were cancelled on Friday as people were told to stay at home, and National Rail has warned there is still "major disruption" to services "across most of Great Britain".
Train networks were disrupted by flying debris, while there was damage to buildings and homes.
