A pub manager thanked a cigarette for "saving her life" after she stepped outside moments before Storm Arwen toppled a tree and crushed her beer garden.
Cheryl Pound, 55, decided to take a quick break after clearing up for the night - but moments later watched as gusts uprooted the huge tree into the pub garden.
The ferocious storm tore down the tree inches from her head as she stood in the smoking shelter of The Star in Bridgend, South Wales, at 1.30am on Saturday.
Cheryl said: "The pub had shut and I went out for a cigarette before finishing cleaning up. The next thing I get attacked by a tree.
"That cigarette saved my life. I'm not superstitious at all. But there must be something up there.
"I think if I wasn't under the shelter I would definitely be dead.
"We'd been serving behind the bar all night and it was windy but I wasn't really concerned. I was just having a cigarette and I heard a crack.
"I honestly thought someone had jumped the wall.
"I went to walk out of the shelter and I don't know why but something told me to step back. The next thing I knew the tree just came down."
Rushing with adrenaline and in shock, Cheryl was forced to crawl through the fallen tree to get back inside and told her colleagues what had happened.
She said: "There's quite a bit of damage. They're still getting rid of the tree and there are four tables broken, with umbrellas. It damaged the smoking shelter too."
Having worked for The Star for the last decade Cheryl says it is the best job she has ever had.
"It's one big happy family working here - and everyone's chuffed that I'm still here, shall we say."
