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Tree had be getting dead branch ends on one side for a few years now, but sprouting new leaves closer to the trunk, so we figured the thing was fighting back against whatever it was. But on Saturday afternoon, heard this prolonged groaning sound and then a little-less prolonged rustling sound and said to myself, that's not normal...looked out the front window and there it was, 20+ years old, easily 30+ feet tall. Looked like one side of the roots just...ceased to exist, and gravity finally won. No strong winds going on, nothing. Fortuitously, did not land on roof, car, fence, person, pet, anything, and just banged up one corner gutter on its way down. Not enough damage to file insurance on, not with our deductible. But money/luck is not the issue. What I'm wondering about is what kind of behavior was exhibited by this scenario. Can a tree more or less die in one half of its root system, or what? We'd pruned the dead branches off to "give hope" to the live ones, but the tree was not serious one-sided or anything as a result. Is there a tree surgeon in the house?