A family was shaken awake early Monday morning by a giant tree falling on their northwest Atlanta home, leaving one of them injured.
Benjamin Nelson said his 74-year-old father, Richard, called him around 2:30 a.m. when he heard “a loud bang and then all of a sudden the tree was on the house.” His father was uninjured, but his 31-year-old niece Jasmine Nelson has cuts and bruises on her face and may have a concussion, he said. She was being evaluated at a hospital.
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Nelson said his niece and her 7-year-old daughter have been living with his father in his Grove Park home since his mother died in March. The tree crashed into the two-story house along Charlotte Place, crushing the room where Jasmine Nelson had been sleeping. Her daughter was asleep in a separate room.
The home’s chimney padded the tree’s fall, sparing the woman from further injuries, Benjamin Nelson said.
“If there weren’t a chimney there, it would have fallen directly on her, ’cause the brunt of the tree is directly over her bed,” he said.
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
In the daylight, the full scale of the damage became apparent, as the toppled tree unearthed a massive root system. Soil in the area was soggy after more than a half-inch of rain fell overnight at nearby Fulton County Airport-Brown Field.
Benjamin Nelson said his family is staying with other relatives to get rest and figure out what needs to be done about the tree.
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