At a Glance

Two people were killed Monday morning when a large tree collapsed on their San Diego home Monday morning.The tree was blown over by high winds being kicked up by Winter Storm Indra.Wind gusts of 45 mph were recorded in the area.

Two people were killed in San Diego Monday morning when a large tree blown over by high winds collapsed onto a house, according to local authorities.

The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department told FOX 5 that a when the tree crashed down. A third resident on the first floor was also home and needed to be rescued, but was uninjured.

Winds being kicked up by Winter Storm Indra gusted as high as 45 mph at Mission Beach, about five miles north of the Point Loma home, according to the National Weather Service.

(FORECAST: Winter Storm Indra to Spread Snow, Ice This Week)

“It was horrendous. I’ve never heard anything like it. It was crashing and people yelling,” a neighbor said. “The tree has been here as long as I’ve moved here 50 years ago. It’s been pruned and re-pruned. It was an accident waiting to happen.”

Fire officials said downed power lines and structural damage would keep them from entering the house and retrieving the couple.

" that we would have to go back in there, remove the tree and have to be able to clear some of the other areas," San Diego Police Department Lt. Christian Sharp told NBC San Diego.

Neighbors estimated the tree was 75 to 100 feet tall and "has just been waiting to be blown over."

"We don’t see this sort of damage and with the fatalities, it’s very rare in San Diego," said Sharp.