Tree crushes, destroys mobile home in Theodore: ‘All of our memories are in there’
THEODORE, Ala. (WKRG) — A family in Theodore is trying to figure out what to do after a tree crushed their home during the storms that rolled through Mobile County Friday morning.
It happened at the Delabe Forest Mobile Home Park on Carol Plantation Road at about 3 a.m. Friday.
“So this was our living room and our kitchen and it basically cut the trailer in half; that’s where the bedroom and the bathroom were,” said homeowner Brandi Towler, showing where a tree fell onto her family’s home of eight years Friday morning. It came down with enough force to shatter everything from the ceiling to the floor.
“We just started crying. You know, what else could you really do?” said Towler.
Towler says she and her daughter spent the night elsewhere Thursday because they were worried about the weather. The pre-storm evacuation helped them dodge serious injury.
Despite losing a home that they’ve lived in for nearly a decade, Brandy Towler says that her family is just grateful this wasn’t any worse than it could have been.
“Very fortunate. I’m very glad my daughter is safe and with friends and family,” said Towler. “We were able to go in and find my two cats who were perfectly fine, of course, freaked out. But my family’s safe, and that’s what’s most important.
“It could have killed one of us. I mean, the bedroom and the bathroom and could have definitely killed one of us, if not hurt us very badly.”
In the 24 hours since the damage, they’ve been able to trim some of the branches from this pecan tree — but the giant trunk still rests on top of the mobile home. Towler salvaged what she could from a place that’s held a lot of memories.
“Most of my daughter’s life, she’s ten,” Towler said. “And this is where she remembers her father, who had a stroke and has been in a nursing home for the last three years.
“And all our memories are in there. And I am thankful my family is safe and I’m thankful we were able to get most of everything out of it. But it’s it’s our home.”
She’s set up a GoFundMe account to help raise money for a new home.
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