Chesterfield County, Va. – A Chesterfield woman and her daughter narrowly avoided a potential tragedy early this morning when a tree crashed into their home, landing directly in the child’s bedroom.
Laura Horton was on the phone with her 15-year-old daughter when they heard a loud crash, followed by her daughter’s terrified screams. Horton, who was at work at the time, rushed home to check on her daughter’s safety.
“We talked for just a couple of minutes,” Horton recalled. “Everything was fine. And then I heard a loud crash and her screaming horribly. At that point, I didn’t know what was going on. And then I could hear a tree. There’s a tree in the house.”
Upon arriving home, Horton found that her daughter and their pets were unharmed, but the damage to the home was severe. The tree had fallen directly into the child’s bedroom, but luckily, the girl was downstairs at the time of the incident. Horton expressed deep relief that her daughter had been in a different part of the house, fearing the worst had she been in her room.
“Luckily enough, she was actually in my room when it happened, because if she was in her bed, it would have probably killed her,” Horton said.
The family is now staying with relatives while they await an assessment of the damage by local officials. Horton, though thankful that her daughter and pets were safe, said the emotional toll of the event is beginning to set in.
“Once I saw that she was safe, the pets were safe, I was a little bit calmer,” Horton said. “But now it’s starting to hit me that there’s a lot of damage.”
In the aftermath of the storm, Chesterfield County Fire and EMS reported receiving 250 emergency calls between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m. on the day of the incident. Of those, 110 were related to downed trees. Crews worked throughout the day in collaboration with the county’s Parks and Recreation Department to remove trees that were blocking roadways and posing other hazards.
Local authorities have issued reminders for residents to report downed trees to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) at 1-800-367-7623. If a downed power line is encountered, Dominion Energy should be contacted at 1-866-366-4357, and residents are advised to avoid approaching the area.
