NORTH BEND, Wash. -- Just because the weather is dry doesn't mean it still can't be stormy.

Strong east winds generally gusting as high as 50-55 mph tore through the Cascade foothills Tuesday afternoon. North Bend reported a gust to 55 mph, while Snohomish had a 50 mph gust. To the south, the small town of Cinebar near the outflow of White Pass, reported a gust of 82 mph.

The wind knocked a tree over and split a home in two near North Bend. A second downed tree knocked out power to parts of the area.

It was around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, when the loud crash woke up an entire neighborhood.

A wind gust likely around 55 mph brought an old conifer down, and it sliced through Nancy Van Risseghem's roof. It didn't stop until it rested just a foot above her kitchen table.

"She was just getting up, heard the crackling and it didn't take any longer than that, snap!" said family friend Debbie Clark.

The wind actually uplifted the tree -- the root ball was plucked right out of the ground.

It's all too overwhelming for Risseghem. She didn't want to talk, but her friend Debbie risked going in what's left of Nancy's house to rescue her cats, Simba and Mia.

"I got the cat, that's all she has. We're good," says Debbie as she pulls Nancy's black cat Mia out from under a desk.

She then tip-toed inside to get Nancy's desperately needed medicine -- she's battling M.S.

Debbie insists timing was everything. Nancy was in her bedroom when the tree crashed through the opposite end of her house. Debbie was in her car, less than a mile away. She was on her way to Nancy's house for coffee. Had she arrived 5 minutes earlier, she insists it could have been much worse.

"We would have been sitting at the kitchen table, we would have heard the crash, but we probably wouldn't have had enough time to get out," says Debbie.

"She got real lucky," agrees next door neighbor Jason Johnson. He and his wife and two young sons got lucky too. The fallen tree just missed their house, but nailed Jason's brand new truck, his work rig and a power line, which unleashed a power spike through his house.

"We heard the crash, woke up and I heard my son say his TV was smoking," says Johnson. No one was hurt -- just a little startled, inconvenienced and clearly thankful.

"Every time the wind blows out here, and you're not hurt, you consider yourself lucky," insists Johnson.

The wind may not be the only culprit. A tree trimmer says he thinks the tree may be diseased -- the tree's pitch is a hard, solid core instead of sappy and loose. The homeowner was told her insurance coverage minus a small deductible should cover the damages and repairs.

Clark says the damage is a shame, as Risseghem had just finished remodeling.

"It's totaled and she just replaced everything; new hardwood floors, new kitchen, new everything," Clark said.

What Caused The Wind?

We have a big, strong ridge of high pressure in eastern Washington, thanks to some cold, dense air parked over there. Meantime, we have an area of low pressure approaching from the west. That's creating a large difference in pressure between the two, and we're in the middle.

So air is racing from the east out to the west to fill in that low pressure center. The Cascades act like a barrier, but the gaps in the mountains (i.e., the mountain passes) allow that air to squeeze through.

The wind was expected to taper off Tuesday night.

will taper off tonight, but rain will increase from the west as the storm moves inland. So expect our first rainfall of the new year overnight, with lows in the upper 30s.

"It's a shame," says Debbie Clark as she shakes her head and looks at her friends newly remodeled house. It was sliced in half right down the middle by a giant pine tree.

"It's totaled and she just replaced everything; new hardwood floors, new kitchen, new everything," Clark said.