A family in New Jersey had a near-miss after a huge chunk of ice fell from the sky and smashed a hole through their home, just meters from where they were sitting.
The Gomez family was sitting at a table in their backyard at around 9:30PM on Wednesday when the terrifying incident occurred, less than 12 feet from where they were.
They reported hearing the noise of the chunk of ice - believed to have fallen from a plane - falling through the sky before hearing an almighty crash when it smashed through the roof of their home in Paterson, NJ.
Security footage from the backyard saw the family leap from their seats when the impact occurred.
Sabrina Gomez told News 12 New Jersey: "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 [doosh]!"
Paul Gomez added: "It was big stones…I guess it was a big square. When it came down it smashed everything."
According to the outlet, the Gomez family's home is directly under several flight paths, which is why it's believed the ice could have fallen from a plane.
Sabrina added: "When we look up, it’s basically like a plane flying by."
After hearing the impact, the family rushed to the front of their home where they filmed pieces of ice that had been scattered across their driveway.
Sabrina explained: "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."
Thankfully, nobody was harmed when the large block of ice fell from the sky, but the damage it caused to their home is so severe that they may need an entirely new roof.
The family has filed a claim with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to investigate whether the ice did indeed fall from s passing aircraft.
It's not the first time such an incident has occurred as a home in Massachusetts was also struck by a chunk of ice weighing between 15 and 20 pounds last year.
As reported by the Associated Press, Jeff Ilg and his wife, Amelia Rainville, were sitting in their home in Shirley when the block of ice came crashing through their roof in August 2023.
Jeff said at the time: "We heard an explosion, basically. The loudest pop, bang I’ve ever heard."
He ran upstairs to check on their children, who'd managed to sleep through the crash, before running outside to find a huge block of ice on his rear doorstep as well as debris scattered around the backyard and roof.
He then discovered a hole in the roof and headed up to the attic where he found another chunk of the ice.
Jeff explained: "Sure enough, it was in there, and it was big,” revealing that the impact was up to 2 feet on the outside of their property.
According to the FAA, airplanes can ice up due to supercooled water, an unstable liquid that freezes when it hits an aircraft in the sky.
It explained: "This can happen when an aircraft flies near the top of a cold air mass beneath a layer of warm air, such as during freezing rain ahead of a warm front in winter.
"As the aircraft flies through the warm, moist air that’s been sucked up into the cold, it hits the supercooled water in liquid form, which then freezes on the leading edges of the plane.”
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