KILBUCK TOWNSHIP (KDKA) – Rain-soaked grounds caused a tree to slide down a hill and crash through a local restaurant in Kilbuck Township over the weekend.

“I was sitting right here and all of a sudden it sounded like a freight train came through the back door and everybody just kind of sat here in shock. I said, ‘What was that?’ and a girl looked back and said, ‘A tree,’” Sunny Jim’s Tavern Owner Jim Oliver said.

The tree damaged several walls, but the kitchen, dining area and bar were spared. It took a few hours, but the holes caused by the tree were patched up and the restaurant remained open for Sunday brunch.

“We had guys in here from a tree service. [They] cut it up, yanked the tree out and got right on the repairs. Most people were sitting in here eating and didn’t know exactly what was going on. Some went out and saw what had happened. Like I said, a few people had seen it and everybody was amazed,” Oliver said.

This is just the latest incident in a long list of bad luck to strike the restaurant. Sunny Jim’s has been around for nearly 30 years and survived a fire a few years ago.

About nine years ago, a creek behind the restaurant flooded and left a foot of water in the restaurant.

Oliver was able to laugh off what happened and said that despite some of the bad luck, nobody was hurt in any of the incidents at the restaurant.

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