Scare from the air: NJ family escapes injury when block of ice crashes into home from the sky

The block of ice appears to have fallen from a plane onto a family’s home in Paterson.

Jim Murdoch

Jun 13, 2024, 9:22 PM

Updated 179 days ago

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A scare from the air was both terrifying and baffling for a Paterson family when a huge chunk of ice came crashing into their home just feet away from where they were sitting.
“Out of nowhere you just hear a hollow sound coming down and honestly we didn’t think anything of it and then you just hear a big DOOOOSH!” said Sabrina Gomez.
That noise was from a massive block of ice that fell from the sky – hurtling towards the ground. It ended up smashing through the Gomez family’s home around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“It was big stones…I guess it was a big square. When it came down it smashed everything,” said Paul Gomez.
Video taken seconds after the impact shows pieces of the ice all over the driveway.
The home on East 38th Street sits directly underneath several flight paths.
“And when we look up it’s basically like a plane flying by,” said Sabrina.
Talk about luck! When the ice crashed into the house, Paul and Sabrina were sitting at their backyard table. The distance from the hole in the roof to the backyard is less than 12 feet.
“Honestly it was a little terrifying but thank God it didn’t hit anybody and it hit the floor. It hit the roof thank God,” said Sabrina Gomez.
Omar Baez started his Mega Home Remodeling business five years ago. He says this is the first time he’s ever seen damage from ice falling off a plane.
“I always get called for trees, hail damage, wind damage, shingles flying off the roof, but never what we see here,” said Baez. “Once I heard what happened I went to YouTube and I see it happens but it’s not frequently, so you have to be one of the real ones for it to happen.”
“If I could tell the story to anyone else they wouldn’t believe me. Haha, they will not believe me what happened to my house,” added Paul.
The family filed a claim with the Federal Aviation Administration, which investigates ice falling from planes. The damage is so severe, they may need an entirely new roof.