BUTTS COUNTY, Ga. — A 5-year-old boy died after a large tree crashed onto this mother’s car during severe storms in Butts County Thursday afternoon.
Relatives told Channel 2′s Tom Regan that Egan Jeffcoat was killed in the weather-related tragedy on Starlake Drive in Jackson.
The young boy’s mother, Tabatha Anglin, was not hurt, but a passenger in the car was seriously injured and hospitalized with multiple broken bones.
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Just a few miles away, another tree fell onto a truck on Wolf Creek Drive.
A Butts County Commissioner, Ken Rivers, said he was driving home with his son when they got caught in the severe weather outburst. Many trees were falling all around them.
“As soon as I turned my truck around, we were in a tornado. It was dark; there was debris hitting us from all angles. Hail. As you can see, the tree hit the front of the truck, bounced on the windshield, and then off my truck. I put it in park and told my son, ‘Be calm.’ So we sat until the tornado passed,” Rivers said.
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The same storm system knocked freight train cars off their tracks near State Highway 41 in Jenkinsburg. It then tore into a large fertilizer plant, ripping apart large sections of walls and the roof. Several workers were inside at the time.
A driver, who arrived on the scene just moments after impact, was worried about the workers’ safety.
“I asked the guys if they were okay. They were all walking out of the building. Just a blessing in itself, Samuel Bennett said.
Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency due to the violent storms and likely tornadoes.
Channel 2 Action News covered several counties impacted by Thursday’s storm, including Henry, Spalding and Troup counties.
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Egan’s family has set up a GoFundMe campaign to help offset costs.
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