North Carolina 20-year-old killed as tree crashes into home

MOUNT AIRY, N.C. (AP) — A 20-year-old man was killed when a tree fell onto his mobile home following days of rain in North Carolina, authorities said.

Nicholas Manuel Rodriguez was asleep when the “extremely large” tree crashed into his bedroom around 5 a.m. Thursday, Surry County EMS director and county medical examiner John Shelton said.

Crews hauled the tree off the structure with a truck and Rodriguez was pronounced dead at the scene, Shelton added. One other person who was in the opposite end of the home survived.

Shelton said it was raining and windy when authorities arrived, and the tree was likely weakened from storms that recently swept through the area.

“We have had several bouts of heavy rain and a lot of wind,” news outlets quoted Shelton as saying. “The root system probably started weakening the day before.”