Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Video of tree crashing into home and almost hitting five-month-old baby captured by baby monitor

‘All of a sudden it sounded like a loud thunder, stuff was coming off the walls,’ Kale Buchholtz said

Gustaf Kilander
Washington, DC
Tuesday 06 July 2021 20:46 BST
Comments
A tree falling into a home and almost hitting a five-month-old baby was captured on video by a baby monitor.
A tree falling into a home and almost hitting a five-month-old baby was captured on video by a baby monitor. (Courtney Blanchard Buchholtz / Facebook)
Leer en Español

A storm blowing through a suburb of Baton Rouge, Louisiana caused a tree to fall into a home and almost strike a five-month-old baby. The moment the tree came crashing through the home, and the baby’s quick rescue by the parents from the debris, was captured on a baby monitor.

Courtney Buchholtz had put her son Cannon to bed on 2 July when a storm started moving through their area in Prairieville.

The video from the baby monitor shows the baby asleep in his bed when debris and rafters come crashing down. Ms Buchholtz said the incident occurred about two minutes after she had put her son to bed.

“All of a sudden it sounded like a loud thunder, stuff was coming off the walls,” Kale Buchholtz told WBRZ-2.

“We rounded the corner in the hallway and we could see the tree in the hall,” he said.

“It took two days for it to set in, we were both in shock,” he added.

“Running to get my baby under debris was one of the scariest things I’ve ever experienced,” Ms Buchholtz wrote on Facebook.

More than six inches of rain fell in just two-and-a-half hours near Prairieville on Friday night, according to storm spotter reports from the National Weather Service.

Ms Buchholtz posted several videos to Facebook showing the damage done to the house.

Videos showed a massive hole in the roof where the tree had cut through the building. The house became flooded from the rain and is now impossible to live in, Ms Buchholtz said.

In 2016, the family lost almost everything as a flood came through Denham Springs, prompting them to move to their current home that was just destroyed.

“The night it happened, I had three or four neighbours show up that I had never met before,” Mr Buchholtz told WBRZ. “Just showed up asking what they could do to help.”

They are staying with cousins as they try to repair their home.

“Trying to remember that all of our material things (once again) can be replaced. We did it once in 2016.” Ms Buchholtz wrote on Facebook. “We’ll do it again.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in