The sound of a chainsaw buzzed in the Blithe Street neighborhood in Green Bay, the day after a 9-year-old girl was killed after a tree fell on her during a thunderstorm.
At 3:29 p.m. June 23, wind gusts of up to 59 mph hit the Green Bay area, toppling a tree in the 100 block of Blithe Street. The tree fell on Rose Elizabeth Hendricks, who was taken to a local hospital, where she fought for her life for around six hours before she died between 9 and 10 p.m., said Jayme Denamur, Rose’s mother.
The next day, crews were cutting down trees in an area where the incident took place. One of them was in the yard of Luis Billar’s home, who lives next door to Denamur. He said his landlord made the call to remove the trees, as they were old and he wanted to prevent an incident like Rose’s from happening again.
Billar said he was not home when the tree fell, but his front door camera showed neighbors trying to help. “Everybody came together. It was like 20 people,” he said.
Among the neighbors was Peter Xiong, who provided a car jack to help lift the tree off of Rose.
“I looked outside and the tree was falling. I didn’t even realize a body was under there,” Xiong said. “The tree was heavy, it was a big tree.”
GoFundMe support rises for Hendricks
When the GoFundMe for Rose was first posted, the family was seeking $4,500 in donations to help with her funeral services. As of 11:30 a.m. June 25, more than $14,800 had been raise..
“She left her family behind grieving her sudden loss. She loved softball, artwork and videogames,” the GoFundMe’s description said. “Rose enjoyed being by her brother’s side every day, she always made sure her brother was safe and taken care of with his health and always put others first.”
Vivian Barrett contributed to this report.
Rashad Alexander can be contacted at ralexander@gannett.com and 920-431-8214.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: ‘Everybody came together.’ Neighbors rushed to help 9-year-old Green Bay girl pinned beneath fallen tree
Reporting by Rashad Alexander, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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