How high was the wind speed? I have a couple of cedars very close to the house and recently had 50 mile an hour wind gusts. They are messy but block the sun from the south...I’d die from heat without them.
Gusts around 30 mph (in general). The ground is SUPER soggy/soft so that doesn’t help. Also, in certain spots, the wind gusts could be higher. His yard must have had something going on - big pine/cedars uprooted & everyone else around looked ok. The trees just went over, pulling up the roots on one side.