Winds hit home: Shelbyville family displaced

Sergio Castillo surveys the damage done to his home on Ranchero Drive during the storm Wednesday afternoon. Luckily, he and his wife Faviola were at work in Tullahoma and their children in school when the big oak fell, destroying the living room and one bedroom. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

A young family of five was left temporarily homeless Wednesday after high winds toppled an oak tree onto their Ranchero Drive mobile home.

"They called us at work," said Faviola Castillo, who works at Tennessee Apparel in Tullahoma with her husband. Sergio. "The children were in school."

The oak fell at an angle across the middle section of the trailer, gouging an opening the width of the trailer and several feet down from the ruined roof.

"The living room is messed up," said Sergio. "The back door on the other side is destroyed and the little bedroom is destroyed."

Although they do have friends and family to stay with for now, the Castillos are concerned about finding a new place. The landlord had contacted them but wanted to see the damage first hand.

"He's been a good landlord," said Sergio, who has lived in the trailer park for the last year and a half.

Hazard tape left by the Shelbyville Fire Department stretched around the fallen tree -- and the only accessible entry to the home.

"They say it's not safe because the trailer's kind of old," said Sergio. "The firemen told me the owner is supposed to get someone to move the tree.

"I need to get my stuff out but I'm afraid it will fall on me."