'I was standing right there': Morrisville man grateful to be alive after tree crashes into his home while he was inside

Sunday, Robert Chase was picking up the pieces and walking through the damage left behind.

"There is a hole through the roof," Chase told WRAL News.

Then Chase said how it happened.

"I was standing right here making potato salad," Chase said. "The whole house was shaking [so] I jumped over in the corner."

Then it happened.

"The whole house was being ripped apart," said Chase.

A massive tree split apart Chase’s two-bedroom home leaving him with one thought, "I was alive."

"If I would have [wanted] the potato salad one min earlier I would have been underneath that tree,” said Chase.

Over the last couple of days, Chase heard about the damage of Hurricane Ian and now he’s a witness to its destructive path.

And it’s a path he still can’t believe.

"I sat there for five or six seconds before the whole dining room was crushed," said Chase. "The wires were pulled down."