Massive Trees Tumble, Spare House and Family

Matthew Downing was watching Connecticut charge toward a national-championship basketball win over Butler when the lights went out with a crash and flash about 10:30 Monday night.

Downing figured it was bedtime. After all, even if the power came back on at his East Cobb home, the cable television probably was knocked out for the night, so he’d just have to find out who won the game in the morning.

Instead, that crash was the start of an all-night effort to clear toppled trees and tangled wires and restore electricity to the neighborhood near the intersection of East Valley and Dale drives. And with the sunrise dawned the full recognition of the Downing family’s good fortune.

The same storm that shattered trees, utility poles and wires on East Valley while leaving the house and the Downing family unscathed proved deadly for at least six other Georgians.

As Downing watched his youngest child, 10-year-old Jordan, play around the fallen branches and tree trunks Tuesday afternoon, he thought about two of those deaths, a man and his 3-year-old son killed when a tree crashed into their Butts County home.

“I feel certain that someone was watching out for us,” said Downing, who does volunteer work for in Kennesaw in addition to being one of the managers of on Windy Hill Road by Interstate 75.

The winds that wreaked havoc through much of Georgia late Monday and early Tuesday, knocking out power to more than 200,000 homes, didn’t do a lot of damage in East Cobb, but they were strong enough to blow over one massive but dying tree near the side of the rented single-family house.

If the tree had fallen in a northern or northeastern direction, it would have come down on at least a couple of the bedrooms, although the Downings’ 13-year-old daughter and son, Alexis and C.J., weren’t in those rooms because they’re on a church trip to Walt Disney World for spring break.

Instead, the tree fell eastward, down the small hill on which the one-story house sits, missing the home by several feet and smashing into another huge tree. Those trees sheared off part of a third big tree and splintered a much smaller dogwood.

The toppled trees tore up electric wires, broke two utility poles and blocked off East Valley Drive, almost striking a vehicle parked in the driveway across the street.

The damage at 290 East Valley Dr. knocked out power to 39 homes, the biggest problem Marietta Power & Water faced from the storm.

“It didn’t knock out the main feeder, which would’ve affected more customers,” said Tom Bell, Marietta Power’s electrical director. “We’re fortunate that it didn’t do more damage.”

The good fortune for Matthew Downing and his wife, Krista, the membership director for , went beyond escaping any damage from the falling trees and the torn electrical wires.

The gas line into the house ran by the first tree to fall, which yanked the line and exposed it to the rain and other elements in the crater it left behind. The force also twisted the gas meter on the side of the house.

But the gas did not leak, and workers replaced the meter and about 15 feet of line without incident Tuesday afternoon.

Marietta Power crews worked all night, using chainsaws to reduce the mass of trees and replacing or repairing poles and a shattered conductor.

"I got the call at 1:30 a.m., and [power] had been out since 11:07 p.m.,” Bell said. “Power was restored to the affected customers at 7:16 a.m.”

Downing had expected to go days without power and considered Marietta Power’s effort to be one of many minor miracles. He also appreciated the work of a Cobb County Department of Transportation crew to clear the road and the quick response of rental company My Home Spot to line up contractors to complete the cleanup this week.

But more than anything, the Downings admired the rush of their neighbors and friends to help.

“I’m taken aback by the response,” Matthew Downing said. “We feel blessed.”