A mother and her children escaped a near life‑or‑death situation after a tree fell onto their house in Cornwall during the strong winds brought by Storm Goretti. A large number of residents in Cornwall woke up to the devastation wreaked by Storm Goretti, which felled more than 80 trees.
Emily Hotchkiss, a resident of Falmouth and her two children, a six-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl, were in their house when she saw a tree starting to move. The mother-of-two said that she managed to save her children and two of her pets and shield them in a doghouse. However, her house has been damaged due to the stormy conditions and the family have been left with only the clothes on their backs.
Emily, who is a mental health nurse and a carer, told CornwallLive: “There were three of us in the house, my partner Shaun was checking up on our elderly neighbour, and it started with branches coming towards the house.
“The whole tree then came through the front door and the upstairs area, and the roof came in. I pushed my kids into the doghouse. We are lucky to be alive. We were inches away from being impaled by the branches. My kids are traumatised.”
A GoFundMe has been set up in order to support Emily and her family. The fundraiser has a goal of £2,200. The fundraiser, which was set up by a friend of Emily, said: “I’m raising money and a plea for all of our community to come together for my dear friend Emily, her partner Shaun and her two beautiful young children and pets.
“Tonight [Thursday] in Falmouth, during the red weather warning and storm, a tree has fallen on her house and she and her family have lost absolutely everything they have and own. Emily is a local nurse, she is kind, hard working and makes such an impact to our community, together she has built a beautiful life with her partner and two young children.
“They have just moved and completed decorating their forever home and just had Christmas. They have been left with absolutely nothing due to Storm Goretti. Please, anything we as a community can do or offer, let’s please come together and raise as much as we can to support this young, beautiful, hard working family and pillar within our community.”
The head gardener of St Michael’s Mount, Darren Little, said he was heartbroken to see the island on Friday morning, and the damage was 10 times worse than that caused by any other storm in the decades he has lived there.
The island has a weather station which recorded winds of 111mph on Thursday evening, before a power cut which lasted until Friday morning, Mr Little, 51, said. About 80 to 100 trees were brought down, most of the trees on the island, he added.
Mr Little said: “It’s more devastating for us as a gardener seeing the hard work you’ve done over many years, then everything’s wiped out within about six hours. We’ve had bad weather before, we’ve had various storms over the years but (in the past) we lose about six or seven trees. I’m heartbroken as well for all the gardeners.”
