ROCK HILL, S.C. — First responders in Rock Hill were called to help people trapped in their house after a tree fell on it Friday morning when Tropical Storm Helene brought heavy rain and high wind gusts to the area.
Channel 9′s Tina Terry was at the home on Poinsett Drive in Rock Hill after a tree fell just after 6 a.m.
Deputies with the York County Sheriff’s Office said two people were stuck inside.
Channel 9′s Tina Terry spoke with family members about the terrifying moments.
Cindy Freeman lives in an apartment over the garage. When she realized what was happening, she jumped into action trying to help her family.
“I was asleep. I didn’t hear the tree. My daughter called me and screamed come over here,” she said.
Freeman says the tree had trapped her daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids in the house.
“I started to go up the stairs and by then the police were here, the fireman, and they stopped me from going up the stairs,” she said.
She says her twin grandkids were able to jump out of a window but her daughter and son-in-law were trapped in a bedroom upstairs.
“She couldn’t get out of the bedroom, her or David. Well, David was covered by the branch,” she said.
Newport Fire Department, Charlotte Fire, and other departments worked together. They had to cut the walls out around the bedroom to rescue Freeman’s son-in-law who was on a bed and trapped under part of the tree.
Freeman’s son-in-law was taken to the hospital. He gave everyone a thumbs up as emergency workers put him in the ambulance.
Freeman is grateful everyone is OK
“I’ve been thanking God all morning. It could have been awful, devastating.”
(VIDEO: National Guard truck gets stuck in floodwater during rescue in northwest Charlotte)
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