Young girl dies after tree falls on Townsend home, police say

TOWNSEND, Tenn. (WVLT) - A young girl, 7, has died after a tree fell onto a home in Townsend early Monday morning, according to the Blount County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials responded around 8:00 a.m. to a 911 call of a tree falling on a home along Highway 73 near the Cades Cove entrance.

The young child was pronounced dead on the scene. According to an investigator, the rest of the family is safe and warm in an undisclosed location.

BCSO told WVLT News that the tree was not the first they had responded to, and more trees were anticipated to fall following the winter weather that struck the region Monday morning.

“There are trees down all over the county, particularly here in Townsend, because we are right at the foothills of the Great Smoky National Park,” BCSO Public Information Officer Marian O’Briant said. “There are a lot of trees; it was kind of a wet heavy snow, so trees are still falling right now.”

The road is closed as crews investigate and clear the road debris from a weather slide that occurred near the same time.

This story is developing.

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