Fallen trees are sorely missed by Lake City homes; "lucky" for the homeowners, Hurricane Helene was no worse

LAKE CITY, Fla. (WCJB) – While Raymond and Glenda Colunga stress the damage left behind by Hurricane Helene, they also stress their blessings.

“We prayed hard that He wouldn’t fall on our house because that’s all we have,” Raymond Colunga told TV20.

The wind direction was in their favor, sparing them any damage after several trees fell from their Lake City home, which they have shared for 38 years.

They stayed with their son on Thursday night, returning on Friday – broken trees lead to broken hearts.

A tree snapped in half and fell in the front yard of Raymond Colunga's Lake City home. — A tree snapped in half and fell in the front yard of Raymond Colunga’s Lake City home.(WCJB)

“It was kind of rough. I didn’t expect it to be this bad. You usually have a few limbs, you know? But not this time”, said Colunga.

Down the street, Marti Nave’s home was also spared after she felt a tree 20 feet from her front door.

“I thought he came through the house because I was sleeping in the back. So, I thought he passed through the house and went out. A few inches from the car. He took out all our fence down there. So it was pretty scary,” Nave explained.

Both families are without power and both have the same feeling of gratitude that it wasn’t worse.

“We were lucky,” Nave said as Colunga followed, “Like I said, we were lucky.”

The Columbia County Board of County Commissioners is holding an emergency meeting at 1 p.m. to discuss the storm response.

For more information on cleanup resources in Columbia County, click here.

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