Massive tree tears through Arlington home landing feet from sleeping baby’s crib

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Dozens of JEA crew members are fanned out across Duval County trying to restore power after the mess Helene left seemingly everywhere.

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To make matters worse, thousands of JEA customers were still without power Friday evening.

On Bamberg Road in Arlington, Andres Almedina said a massive tree fell onto his house around 2:30 a.m., but somehow his electricity stayed on.

He said he acted quickly and immediately turned it off.

The tree collapsed destroying parts of the roof. Almedina’s entire family was home including three children. He said the tree fell within two feet of his daughter’s crib.

“I was able to get the baby girl out quick. It was really scary, there was debris and on the crib. It was very concerning,” said Almedina.

JEA officials ask customers to remain patient, while emphasizing crews are responding to these outages as quickly as they can.

In a social media post, JEA said crews are responding to public safety providers, first responders and JEA facilities first and then going out to residential homes.

As for Almedina, he said the massive tree that sat right in front of his home was a concern leading up to Helene.

“They were going to mention it to the property manager and see if they were going to be able to cut it down or delimb it a little bit to make sure something like this doesn’t happen and that was just shy of last Tuesday,” said Almedina.

The Almedina family has been in contact with the landlord and there is no damage estimate as of now.

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