WWAY reporter comes home to tree-filled bedroom, but pet tortoise survives

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Typically Kirsten Gutierrez reports on other people’s stories on WWAY. Well, this one is about her, a big oak tree, her house on Myrtle Avenue and a tortoise.

On Saturday, Kirsten covered Hurricane Matthew in Southport.

WWAY reporter Kirsten Gutierrez is reunited with her pet tortoise Tuc on Oct. 9, 2016, a day after a tree fell on Kirsten’s Wilmington home while she was covering Hurricane Matthew in Southport. (Photo: John Rendleman/WWAY)

“I was in Southport reporting on other people’s damages and power outages,” Kirsten said. “The last thing I expected was to get a call that my house had a tree on it and half my room was gone.”

Even though a huge scrub oak tree ripped off the entire closet and a portion of one side of Kirsten’s house, her beloved pet Tucson (aka Tuc) the turtoise survived the hurricane all by himself.

“Had he been upstairs in my room he would have 100 percent been gone, Kirsten said. “Thankfully he was downstairs. So when my roommate called me from Raleigh and nobody was here and my first question to myself was, ‘Oh, my goodness. Is Tuc OK?’ So I made her call a neighbor and made him go check on the turtle.”

Kirsten’s closet is gone completely. Her clothes are gone, along with her shoes and TV. Fortunately they are all replaceable items, and she’s quite thankful.

Kirsten Gutierrez’s pet tortoise Tuc a day after a tree fell on Kirsten’s Wilmington home while she was covering Hurricane Matthew in Southport. (Photo: John Rendleman/WWAY)

“Tucson is my life, and I know people are like, ‘Oh, whatever,’ but I was so worried about him and afraid that he wouldn’t be there,” she said.