LOWNDES Co. – A few days later and people are still getting out and assessing the damage in some of their areas. One family there says now they’re counting their blessings.
“The tree it could have shifted three feet to the right, and could have hit us in the tub,” Erica explained.
These days Erica Detwiler hugs her ten month old baby girl, Kenley, just a little tighter.
Erica said, “I think for me, there wasn’t a safe place we could have gone had things gone any differently.”
On Sunday night Erica said she was asleep when her husband called and said she should get somewhere safe because a storm was coming.
“I stepped into the tub and it hit all within like five to ten seconds of me getting up.”
Moments later the bed where Kenley lay sound asleep, was the resting place of a 30-40 foot tree. Erica said in that moment she knew God had his arms wrapped around her and her family.
“I’m just thankful that that’s all that happened.”
Many in Lowndes County say it’s hard to think about how some other communities in South Georgia weren’t as lucky.
“It shook my sense of security up, it sure did,” said Mickey McMillan, a Lowndes County resident.
“You hear about other places, and your heart goes out. But, this is our community, like this is our people, and it just absolutely devastating,” said Erica.
It’s an experience helping pull communities together as they rebuild one piece at a time.
Erica said “It’s almost like God recognized we needed love in this moment, and it took so devastation for that to happen. It’s just incredible.”
