This is the terrifying moment a giant tree comes crashing through the luxury forest home of a family in Brazil, giving them just seconds to escape.
CCTV security footage of the drama shows a family of seven relaxing over a meal on their first-floor terrace on 21st August in what looks like a forest clearing.
As they joke and dance around the table, there is no warning of the terrible blow to follow.
Then – seconds after an ominous, ear-splitting crack – a massive tree crashes through the terrace canopy, smashing it to pieces.
Members of the family run screaming from the terrace, with some only just making it in time to avoid being crushed.
Suddenly, the table they had been sitting at disappears under piles of girders, timber, and tiles.
For a moment, it almost seemed as if the forest was hitting back at the out-of-town weekend home, in Aragoiania, Goias state.
Experts say agriculture and new homes are the biggest causes for the loss of 20 per cent of Brazil’s rainforests.
Family member Silvia Tavares told local media: “Every weekend we are here. The tree gave a sign, it made a cracking sound, everyone heard it, and everyone started running.”
Her husband, Joao Tavares, had been sitting on a chair that one of the fallen wooden roof beams demolished.
He recalled seeing the tree’s shadow moving split seconds before dashing out of the way.
Joao said: “Suddenly, I looked back and saw the shadow of the tree coming down.
“The only thing we could think of was to run. Thank God it was a deliverance.”
According to the country home’s owner, the tree that fell had appeared sturdy and there were no signs it could fall.
The family have now started trimming the surrounding trees and are repairing the part of the house destroyed by the falling trunk.
