PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — Looking around the Berwyn Heights community in Prince George’s County the destruction is evident from Tuesday’s severe storms that brought winds up to 90 mph.
Among the streets of devastation is the home Isaiah Marshall lives in with his family. Several trees fell in their backyard during the winds, and another right in the middle of their house. That tree cut their home directly in half and took the roof and first floor down with it.
“It just sounded like a bomb hit us,” Marshall said. “I thought I was gone once the ceiling fell on me. I had to crawl out, but I was sitting there for about two minutes and I looked up and I just saw a tree, rain, and the skies. And once I came to the realization I was like my son’s in here.”
He was able to get to his partner, 8-month-old baby, and sister who all happened to have been in the basement when the home virtually broke in half. They were trapped down there until they were able to escape through a window with the help of a neighbor.
“As I started coming through the window and I was just telling them please come help us, please come help us out,” Marshall said.
Marshall went to the hospital and was told he had a concussion from when the ceiling collapsed onto him. Everyone else was okay but the house he and other family members called home is now unlivable, and everything inside appears to be destroyed.
“It hurts, it hurts a lot but thankful to be here you know,” Marshall said.
He and their family members are now in a position where they have to eat out for all their meals and buy new clothes, diapers, and baby formula, while also having to stay in a hotel.
They said the insurance company did come to the house and informed them to save the receipts. However, it’s the upfront unexpected costs that are adding to the mounting stress and trauma they’ve experienced over the last few days.
“Right now we’re paying everything upfront and praying the insurance will reimburse us for new clothes and food as far as somewhere to stay,” Marshall said. “That’s why I created the GoFundMe for extra help. It’s not easy right now. We’ve lived here six years, it’s a lot of memories, a lot of things.”