COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A family of four is thankful to be alive after a large oak tree came toppling down on their historic home.
“Still a little in shock,” said homeowner Kyle Rains, who was at their house on Lee Street in Smyrna with his wife and their young sons.
Describing the moment the tree came down, Rains told WSB the family heard “a massive cracking noise then 20 seconds later, [it] came down.”
Rains said he and his four-year-old son were on the floor playing around 6 p.m. Sunday night when a burst of high winds toppled the tree onto the more than 110-year-old house.
His wife and nine-month-old son were in the back bedroom.
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“I came out here, looked and saw the ceiling on the floor, a giant dust cloud,” Rains recalled.
The root of the tree appears about nine to 10 feet high and 15 feet across. The tree fell right on the front room, where the baby’s nursery is.
“My nine-month-old was napping and usually naps in there,” Rains said. “His crib’s in there, a little playpen completely flattened. If it happened at a different time, we both could have easily been in there.”
Tree crews are now cutting away the large branches and the family is salvaging what they can and getting a better look at the damage.