Tuesday was Emily Vyncke's first time back to the scene.
"A lot of the wind had stopped, the rain had subsided. And I was in the middle of the street," she remembered.
As her young children, her husband, her mother and other family members crossed the street at Oakley and McLean in Bucktown Saturday night, the unthinkable happened.
"I had that moment of, is my depth perception off? What's going on? And that's really the last thing I remember," she said.
Vyncke was trapped under large tree that fell on her. Her husband and others tried to get her out. Her 69-year-old mother was also pinned down just feet away.
"The next thing I remember is my husband holding my head and just trying to make me come to," Vyncke said. "And then my mother-in-law helping me. My son screaming and asking my husband to take care of the kids cause I know how scared they were."
Tuesday afternoon crews were still cleaning up.
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Vyncke and her neighbors wonder if this could have been prevented.
"Enough people in the area knew this was so dangerous," Vyncke said. "They were telling people to cross the street or walk far away from it."
Ald. Scott Waguespack said at least three residents had called in concerns over the dead tree since June and that it was scheduled to be removed.
But it appears it was too late.
"We have staples in our heads. We have concussions. My mom's body is physically sore and bruised," Vyncke said.
Residents told NBC 5 the tree had been leaning on power lines since the spring.
"To know this could have been children, this could have been my kids had it happen seconds earlier," Vyncke said.
