A 13-year-old boy was killed Monday morning when a tree fell on his home after Hurricane Debby made landfall in Florida.
The incident occurred around 8 a.m. near Fanning Springs, the Levy County Sheriff’s Office said.
There were other people in the house at the time, but no other injuries were reported.
Photos of the scene showed a large tree trunk splayed across a yard and on top of a partially collapsed roof on a single-level home.
“We encourage everyone to use extreme caution as they begin to assess and clean up the damage,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Downed powerlines and falling trees are among the many hazards. One life is too many. Please be safe.”
Hurricane Debby made landfall as a category 1 storm around 7 a.m. in northwest Florida’s panhandle. However, it was downgraded back to a tropical as it continued churning northeast. It’s expected to bring flooding and widespread power outages to the Sunshine State.
The storm is forecast to continue up the East Coast and bring rain and cooler weather to the tri-state area later this week.
Debby is believed to have caused other deaths as well. A 38-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy died in a car crash in Dixie County on Sunday night that witnesses say was caused by the driver losing control in the the inclement weather.
Dixie County Fire Rescue said Monday afternoon it was going door-to-door to check on residents in Suwannee and Horseshoe Beach after the areas were hit particularly hard by the storm.
