Giant tree falls on home in Anne Arundel County, caving in roof and trapping resident
A giant tree fell on a house in Churchton, in Anne Arundel County, during a severe storm last night, causing major damage to the home and trapping a resident inside.
The resident is Diana Lee, who was eventually was rescued from the home, and spent Friday cutting down tree limbs and clearing debris. "It's like I can't believe this happened, and it happened to us," said Lee.
Lee tells us her friend Linda Trader was visiting from out of town, and the two stayed up late talking before finally calling it a night around midnight, the same time the storms started to roll through.
"I said, 'You're going to sleep in this room. I call it the bed and breakfast.' That's what I said. And she said, 'This room is beautiful,'" said Lee. Now, that room is left in shambles.
Trader tells us that she had just put her two little dogs on the bed and went to the bathroom when she heard the crack.
"Everything came down on the bed"
"There was a big lightning splash, the tree cracked, and I looked out and it started falling. Everything came down on top of the bed. It was the ceiling, all the insulation, the roof, and the tree all came down," said Trader.
Trader was stuck in the bathroom, unable to get through the debris to her dogs or to the bedroom door. "I kept saying, 'Dear Lord, please. If it's my time, do it. Otherwise let me be strong,'" she said.
"I said, 'Linda, Linda, are you okay?' She said, 'Yes I'm fine. I just cannot move, I have to stay here.' And I said, 'Oh my God, if you would have been in that bed.,'" said Lee.
First responders were able to help everyone, including the two dogs, out of the home, and everyone is just grateful, by some miracle, that no one was injured.
Red Cross assists with clean up
"It makes me sad, yeah. But I try to understand it could have been worse. It could have been worse so I have to understand that part," said Lee.
"You have to live with it. God gives you what you can endure and I guess this was another trial," added Trader.
Right now, the Red Cross is assisting as they work to clean up.
Meanwhile, the Carrie Weedon Early Education Center, Shady Side Elementary School, West Annapolis Elementary School, and Southern High School all had to close today due to a lack of power, but are expected to reopen by next week.