A 1-year-old girl was rescued from a DeKalb County home Thursday morning after a tree fell on her bedroom, breaking through the ceiling just feet above her crib.
The tree ripped through the roof and brought down drywall at the home on Scarborough Lane, the child’s mother told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ashlee Johnson said she was forced to watch the room crumble as she waited for help to arrive.
“I was terrified,” she said. “I just thought, ‘That tree is going to fall on my baby.’ That’s all I was thinking.”
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
Johnson said she was startled awake about 6 a.m. by a loud “boom.” When she opened her eyes, she saw insulation and wood falling around her. Johnson said her 4-year-old son, Amias “Ace” Johnson, was in bed with her at the time.
“So I jump up, I look at him, and he’s OK,” she said.
Johnson then rushed to the bedroom where her toddler, Aasha “Cupcake” Johnson, had been sleeping.
Insulation and drywall littered the hallway leading to Cupcake’s room.
“That’s when I noticed it was a tree,” Johnson said. “Before, I thought maybe it had just rained all night and the roof caved in. I realized it was a tree when I got to her room.”
Heavy rain and storms earlier in the week have left much of metro Atlanta soaked. Since Monday, DeKalb-Peachtree Airport has recorded about 2 inches of rainfall.
Johnson began shoving on the door to Cupcake’s room, but it wouldn’t budge. She finally pushed the door open enough to see that the massive tree was blocking access to her daughter.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
Johnson, looking through a crack in the doorway, said she could see that the walls of her child’s room were still crumbling. Part of the tree had torn through a wall above Cupcake’s crib, she said.
Johnson stopped pushing the door out of fear that shoving it any further would cause it to come crashing down.
“I’m watching the hole get bigger and it’s literally right above her crib,” she said.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
The incident comes within a year of her husband’s death, Johnson said. Tiwuan Johnson died after he was shot multiple times at a gas station on North Hairston Road on Feb. 19, the AJC previously reported.
“Had I lost my baby after losing my husband ...,” she said, tearfully. “I was terrified”
The mother called 911 and tried to coax her toddler out of her crib and toward the door. Emergency responders arrived at the scene within minutes and cut the door open to get Cupcake out of the collapsing bedroom. Soon, the child was back in her mother’s arms.
“I just cried,” Johnson said. “I was just so scared that something was going to happen to my baby. I’m thankful to the DeKalb County fire department for getting her and giving me my baby.”
The American Red Cross of Georgia will be assisting the family with temporary lodging, clothing and food. Meanwhile, Johnson said she’s happy that both of her children are safe.
“We are going to go try to take a bath and try to get this insulation off of us,” Johnson said.
