Tree destroys woman’s home, car just before daughter’s first day of school

GASTONIA, N.C. — A mom and her daughter are living in a motel days after a tree came crashing through their home.

It happened on Aug. 8 during Tropical Storm Debby. As the tree fell, it lifted the backyard fence about 9 feet in the air and toppled onto the home along Linwood Road.

Elizabeth Combs and her daughter were home but unharmed. However, everything went downhill after that. Her daughter is supposed to start school on Wednesday but now, she has no way to get there.

“I was out of transportation and a home all at once,” Combs said.

READ MORE: Debby soaks the Carolinas

She said that’s because the tree that destroyed her home also damaged her car.

Though Combs has renters insurance, she later learned it’s liability renters insurance. That means it only covers damage caused by the renter and nothing caused by the fallen tree.

In the meantime, the floor is soaked, there are cracks in the walls, and anxiety has taken over the faces of the mother and daughter who lived there.

Tree falls on Gastonia home Elizabeth Combs and her daughter are living in a motel days after a tree came crashing through their home. It happened on Aug. 8 during Tropical Storm Debby. As the tree fell, it lifted the backyard fence about 9 feet in the air and toppled onto the home along Linwood Road.

Combs and her daughter are now staying in a motel paying $90 a night. The single mother is running out of money.

“If I don’t have the money to pay for another night, we are out on the street,” she said.

Combs said her daughter is an honors student who hopes to start fourth grade on Wednesday. But she knows at this point, that can’t happen; they have bigger problems and are having trouble finding another home to rent.

“Who knows what’s going to happen? We’re going to get kicked out,” said her daughter, Elisa. “We are going to have to sleep in the rain. Wait for a ride every day. We’re not going to be able to eat.”

Her mother cried hearing her daughter say that.

“You just want to give your kid the world and — when you can’t even give them a place to sleep,” she said through tears.

Combs said she is working with the real estate broker who helped her find the home but the process is slow, especially considering that they now need a place that will accept deferred payment until she can get back on her feet.

(WATCH BELOW: Tropical Storm Debby makes busy day for emergency personnel)