. >> reporter: neighbors sandy rinaldi heard what sound like an explosion and in the poring rain came out to investigate. >> we heard a real loud crash of thunder next thing you know our whole house shook. such an impact of thunder it was ridiculous. >> reporter: those who live near the tree in the cranbury woods development say they've been worried about it for awhile. it had been leaning and rotted. >> many of us in the neighborhood have called the association several years, um, asking them to come out and take a look at the tree. >> reporter: wonders home did sustain structural damage. they're head to do hotel for the night. tree removal underway and neighbors are promising to help any any way they can. >> neighbors helping neighbors basically. >> reporter: it was just about five minutes ago when a construction crew left. they kind of patched up what they could for the night. tomorrow they will begin removing the tree in the back. we did kind of an assess many of the neighborhood really didn't find any other damage. clearly this was an old tree that needed to be removed. it was not