A man has been killed after a tree fell onto his Georgia home amid severe storms, according to his family and officials.
In a GoFundMe created to help with funeral experiences and finding a new home, the family of Edward Johnson announced the death of their patriarch.
“On February 16, 2025, a tree fell on our house during a freak storm and my dad was crushed underneath it,” wrote Johnson’s daughter Tamaya Jones in the fundraiser description.
Officials from Atlanta Fire Rescue also confirmed Johnson’s death, the Bradenton Herald reported. PEOPLE contacted Atlanta Fire Rescue on Tuesday, Feb. 18, for additional information.
According to ABC affiliate WSB and CBS affiliate WANF, emergency responders were called to a home in Atlanta’s Grove Park neighborhood in the early morning hours of Sunday, following a report of someone trapped inside.
Diane Jones, Johnson’s wife, later recalled hearing thunder and lightning at the time in an interview with WSB. She said that she was lying with her husband and felt their home shaking as the thunder rolled.
“So I put my arms around him and I said, ‘Come on sweetheart, it’s time for us to go,’ ” Diane, who remembered her husband as a “loving person,” told WSB. “ ‘It’s time for us to go.’ And before I said the last go, the house fell down on top of both of us.”
Family members were able to remove debris off of Diane but weren’t able to rescue Johnson.
“And when we looked over, the tree was on top of him,” Diane added.
Johnson, who was 61, WANF reported, later passed away that morning. His two daughters fondly remember their father, a carpenter who built the home, as the glue of their family, Fox affiliate WAGA further reported.
“Even if you were feeling down, you could go around him, and it was the best energy ever,” Tamaya said.
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“He’s not my biological father,” Teanna Jones told the same outlet, “but he took me in as a kid and that’s the only dad that I know, so it’s very hard for me.”
According to the National Weather Service, wind gusts at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport reached 69 mph around the time the incident occurred, Fox Weather reported.
“The storm pulled down three trees at once,” Yusuf Muwwakkil, Johnson’s friend, told WAGA. “If you take a look, the first tree, it had roots up on the hill. The first tree fell back there and hit the tree here, which hit another tree, and so there’s a domino effect.”
Meanwhile, Johnson’s family members are looking for temporary housing.
“He was an amazing man, a loving husband, and father,” Tamaya wrote on the GoFundme. “Anything that you can give will go a long way for our family during this crisis. This money will go towards a funeral for him and a place for my family to live.”
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