Police: Girl, 7, dies after tree falls on Tennessee home

TOWNSEND, Tenn. (WVLT/Gray News) - 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 a.m. to a 911 call of a tree falling on a home along Highway 73, WVLT reported.

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.

The sheriff’s department said that the tree was not the first to which they had responded, 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,” said Marian O’Briant, public Information officer with the Blount County Sheriff’s Office. “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.

Blount County is just south of Knoxville.