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'I could not believe I made it out' | Decatur couple narrowly survives tree crashing through home

Early Monday morning, a tree from their backyard came crashing through the roof.

DECATUR, Ga. — A Decatur couple said they're grateful to be alive after a massive tree crushed their home.

Crews have been working most of Tuesday to clear the debris at David and Brook Hewitt's home on McLendon Drive. Even looking right at the damage, Brook said she still can't believe what took place. 

"We looked at each other and just said, 'what is happening,'" she said.

Early Monday morning, a tree from their backyard came crashing through the roof. David was in the bathroom where the tree made impact.

"It was incredible, it was mind-boggling, I could not believe I made it out of there alive. I was a fraction of a second from that thing coming down on me," he said.

While David and Brook escaped unharmed, their office was crushed.

"Everything, all my equipment, my cameras, all that is just gone," said Brook, who is an art teacher. 

She lost all of her teaching supplies, the computer she used to instruct remotely, and the studio she worked so hard to create.

"I'm trying to just take it, not even one day at a time, really one hour at a time," she said.

The Hewitts said it will take weeks to fully catalog all of the damage, adding the tree came down on their cars and crushed their carport.

Brook said she's overwhelmed by the event and still coming to terms with what has been lost. Ultimately, she recognizes that if the tree had fallen in a different way, she would have a different story to tell.

"This is terrible, this is absolutely terrible, but there are so many things that are worse," she said.

"We didn't die, and we totally could have, and it's a miracle that we didn't," Brook added.

Their friends and family have started a fundraiser to help them rebuild, which has already raised nearly $8,000 as of Tuesday evening.

  

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