Woman Injured

In Her Mobile Home

By Andrew Gorosko

Recalling her near miss with death during Storm Sandy, a local woman said this week her experience assures her that God exists.

“All I could say is that it’s a miracle that I’m still alive. Nobody can tell me that there’s not a God,” said Kathleen Wade, 55, a resident of the Meadowbrook Terrace Mobile Home Park at 55 Sugar Street (Route 302).

Ms Wade was alone, relaxing in her mobile home at about 6 pm on Monday, October 29, when things changed suddenly.

“I sat down on my couch and all of a sudden, I heard a loud ‘Voooooom,’” she said.

 In an instant, a towering evergreen tree that had been standing next to her mobile home fell swiftly amid the intense gusts of Storm Sandy and burst through the roof of the structure.

“I was trapped,” Ms Wade of a massive tree trunk that had entered the mobile home, missing her by several inches. The impact initially trapped her between the couch and a wall.

Ms Wade explained that she was able to make her way to the back of the mobile home. She could not get a door to open. She moved to a window, but could not get out of the window.

Ms Wade said she waved her hand in front of the window, seeking to draw attention to her plight.

She then screamed for help.

Rich Hancock, her son who lives in a nearby mobile home, heard her cries for help.

Mr Hancock and neighbor Bill McLean then worked together to rescue Ms Wade.

“They pulled me out of that window,” she said, recalling the two men’s efforts to free her.

Newtown Hook & Ladder volunteer firefighters responded to the scene, as did the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

Ms Wade was transported to Danbury Hospital where she was treated for back and neck injuries and then released.

It is difficult and painful to walk, Ms Wade said, adding that she will be receiving physical therapy for her injuries.

Recalling the incident, Mr McLean said that he had been on his deck during the storm and saw tall trees swaying wildly in heavy winds before the tree fell onto the mobile home.

Mr McLean said he heard Ms Wade’s screams for help. Approaching her mobile home, he then saw her hand waving hand through the window and he realized that she was in dire straits. The two men then rescued her.

Several trees fell in the mobile home park during the storm, Mr McLean noted.