Woman, 20, recovering after massive tree falls on bedroom

GREAT NECK, NY -- On Monday evening, work crews patched up the crater in the roof of a New York home, where 20-year-old Stephanie Epstein, back from college for the summer was trying to sleep in her bed, and wound up trapped after a 5,000 pound tree crashed down in the middle of the night.


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Epstein's grandmother breathed a sigh of relief as her dad, a doctor himself, told Eyewitness News that his daughter is very lucky. He was there every step of the rescue.

"She was talking to us the whole time - she did a good job keeping in good spirits," said Steven Blocker of the Great Neck Vigilant Fire Company, "we worked with her the whole two hours, we were there making sure we could get her out safely."

The tree toppled just after midnight as storms rolled through Long Island's North Shore. It isn't clear exactly what caused the tree to fall, and what caused Epstein's brush with death. In fact the brush with death was so close for Epstein, rescuers say had she not been sleeping on her side, the outcome might have been much different.