LAURENS COUNTY, Ga. — Laurens County Coroner Nathan Stanley says Doug Brownlee died Friday morning after a tree fell on a home on Clairmont Drive.
"It's almost like right in this area, it was not just a hurricane, but a tornado went off too," said Kay Donaldson.
She lives several houses down from the Brownlee family. The Brownlee's had roughly six trees on top of their home, witnesses said.
However, the pile of trees isn't what struck neighbors the hardest. It's the life they lost buried under the pile.
"He was so - he was so nice," Meredith Mitchell said.
Mitchell said that Brownlee was so kind, he often shared items from his garden, which was also destroyed in the storm.
"He just loved to spend time out there with his garden with all vegetables and growing things," Mitchell said.
Mitchell says he was caring, and looked out for his widowed neighbors.
"It's almost like losing a family because they were so close neighbors for so many years," she said.
Donaldson says family meant a lot to him. She last saw Brownlee and his wife walking their grandkids down this street.
"She was pushing one, he was pushing one and holding one and they were just a close knit good family," Donaldson said.
Neighbors say his impact shook the neighborhood harder than the storm.
"He will be very much missed in this neighborhood," Donaldson said.
The county coroner says Brownlee's wife was inside the home but was not injured.
Now neighbors are praying for the family facing more storms ahead, as they clean up and mourn.
Coroner Nathan Stanley says the other death in the county happened after a tree fell on Highway 441 early Friday morning.
The downed tree stopped a tractor trailer with a couple from Kentucky inside. As they stopped, a second tree fell killing 48-year-old Angela Edwards. Her husband was treated for minor injuries.