DALMATIA - A mobile home was crushed by fallen trees, trapping a mother and her adult daughter, during a violent thunderstorm early Thursday morning.
Judith Strohecker, of 278 Hickory Road, was awaken at 4 a.m. by the sight of lightning and the shaking of her home, just before three large pine trees, each having a diameter 2.5 feet at their base, came crashing through the kitchen and living areas of the three-room home. Throughout the home, falling walls and ceiling flipped heavy appliances and furniture and blew-out shards of glass, insulation and wooded support beams. The destruction trapped Strohecker and daughter, Brenda Dane, in a back bedroom.
"I heard 'swoosh,' and then I got Brenda awake," Strohecker said. "Then we couldn't get out. We were pinned in there. I could have climbed out the window, but I wouldn't have been able to get her out."
Miraculously, the bedroom's ceiling and walls did not collapse, which spared the women of any injuries. They were freed in approximately five minutes by emergency personnel from Pillow and Hickory Corners who cut out a window and portion of the back wall to free the women.
"Luckily they were in the bedroom," Herndon Fire Chief Tony Gilligan said. "If they would have been in those other two rooms, they probably would have been killed."
The trees also destroyed two vehicles parked near the home. Gilligan said the contents of the home are insured, but the home, which was a total loss, is not.
Protecting her daughter
Strohecker said she invited her daughter, who lives next door, to her home after a separate line of strong storms rolled through Tuesday and Wednesday night.
"I wanted to protect her," she said later Thursday afternoon. "Yeah, her's (house) is alright..."
Strohecker looked over the remains of the mangled home, every once in awhile peering inside two large holes on either side of the home that were cut out by firefighters. "I am just tired. It's been a long day," she said. "My God, Mother Nature. We are lucky we're living. We will be alright. We're alive."
Strohecker said many of the same volunteer firefighters who responded to the initial call for help remained on scene throughout the afternoon to remove the trees and to assist her in the removal of personal belongings.
Firefighters from neighboring community Herndon also arrived later in the morning to assist with operations after dealing with other storm-related incidents.
"The fire companies, I can't even tell you how much I appreciate their help," she said. "They work like crazy men. I would praise them forever."
Path of destruction
Gilligan said approximately 20 emergency calls for trees or wires down were reported in the Dalmatia area. The chief added that the bulk of the damage was within an almost straight line, approximately one mile long, that stretched through the valley from Orchard Road, off Route 147, to just past Strohecker's home.
"There were multiple, multiple, multiple trees and wires down," he said. "In the past, we had sporadic (trees down) here and there, but nothing like this. (I have) never seen anything to this extent."
The chief complimented the responding emergency personnel for pulling together during the large-scale incident.
Gilligan said The National Weather Service was notified to determine whether straight-line winds or a tornado is to blame for the damage .Image Gallery more flood photos