A 5-year-old boy was killed Monday morning when a tree fell on his suburban Atlanta home, splitting it in half — while his mother escaped virtually unscathed.
The boy, who has not yet been identified, died after being trapped in the collapse on Glenwood Road in DeKalb County, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
When firefighters arrived, they heard the despondent mother screaming, a fire official told the news outlet.
The rescuers pulled the mother out “virtually unharmed,” Capt. Jaeson Daniels told the paper. “She complained of no injuries, but the child was deceased.”
Crews were reportedly securing the badly damaged structure before entering to remove the child’s body.
“There is so much destruction,” Daniels told the AJC. “It really just split the house in half.”
A 5-year-old boy was killed when a tree fell on top of his house during a storm on January 3, 2021. WSBTV.com
According to rescue teams, the mother was “virtually untouched” by the damage and didn’t have any injuries. WSBTV.com
Rescue crews secured the badly damaged structure before entering to remove the child’s body. WSBTV.comMore than 6 inches of rain fell across the region in December — and another 1.33 inches fell Sunday, the paper said. Wind gusts of up to 44 mph were recorded overnight.
“All the rain that we’ve been having, the ground has been really soft,” Daniels said, according to WSB Radio, adding that trees in the neighborhood where the tragedy occurred are older.
“It’s tough. Obviously any loss of life renders a different feeling especially from the rescuers,” Daniels said.
