DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — A massive tree toppled onto a home in Douglas County as a powerful storm swept through the area early Sunday morning.
“I heard a crash, and everything just disintegrated. I was buried under everything,” homeowner James Denny.
Denny told Channel 2’s Tom Regan that he and his family were asleep in their home on Fairburn Road when the storm hit around 4 a.m.
He said his 14-year-old granddaughter Jayla and adult son Joshua were hurt when the tree fell onto the side of the house where they were asleep.
“It blew the whole end of the house out. And blew her out of the house, that was the only thing that saved her. It broke her leg, her ankle. My son was trapped under the tree, I had to get him out. He’s got cuts on his side and his back,” Denny said.
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Denny’s wife said it was a terrifying moment in the dark.
“You don’t know how it feels for a mother to wake up, to her son screaming for help, and her granddaughter screaming, and you don’t know what’s happened,” Donna Holtz said.
The storm toppled dozens of trees and damaged another home off Fairburn Road.
“Police officers walked through and checked in on everybody, and the neighbor over there was checking. And we poked our heads outside the doors to make sure everything was OK. It was shocking. You don’t expect it to happen,” neighbor Daniel Murry told Regan.
Denny said while his rented home is in ruins, he feels fortunate.
“All of that can be replaced. Anything in there can be replaced. But you can’t replace a life,” Denny said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with housing and essentials.
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