CRESTVIEW, Fla. — For one Crestview family, Hurricane Isaias hit harder than expected.
For Ashley Weeks and her family, the devastation is personal. A tree from their backyard split on top of their house, gutting their roof and bringing stormwater inside.
The owner says they are from the area, but have only lived in this home for two years. Destruction from Hurricane Isaias stretched more than 30 miles inland from the coast.
“Just scary, everything, my whole life is in the house,” Weeks said. “We heard a loud like something, like a bomb went off in the house. It was so loud. And I got up and went and seen the tree through the roof and it was freaking out.”
The tree landed on the roof near her daughter’s bedroom. What was once their ceiling is now just piles of wet debris in their living room and kitchen.
Weeks says she, Brian Johnson, her daughter, their four dogs, and a reptile were all inside the house at the time of the crash. Everyone made it out alive.
“I don’t think anybody else would be good who experiences something like this,” said Johnson. “But you never think it’s gonna happen to you until it does.”
Weeks says her family has called this house their home for the last two years. There’s certain memories in the home she wanted to preserve.
“My daughter’s father passed away a few years ago,” Weeks said. “Her necklace with his ashes was in that house, and she was upset we came back at that like our pictures stuff that matters the most to us.
Outside the home, a second tree collapsed in their front yard. The family is still processing the devastation, but are forced to think about next steps.
Weeks says the family spent the night at her fathers house. Her next steps are to figure out how to restore her home.