Banks County man killed in weather-related accident Tuesday

“The tree blew down in the yard and fell on his bedroom,” Hart said.

Billy Whitfield, Mr. Echols step-son, said it took rescue crews two to three hours to get Mr. Echols out of the rubble. Mr. Echols was asleep in the bedroom of the home when the storm hit. The couple’s Chihuahua, Dolly, was also in the bedroom, but she was rescued unharmed.

Whitfield said there was heavy rain, hail and lightning with the storm. He said the power went off in the area before the storm really got bad. Whitfield said, “It was still lightning while the rescuers were working to free Mr. Echols.”

Whitfield said he was in the back part of his home, which is located behind the mobile home, and he didn’t hear the tree when it fell. He said, “The neighbors on the other side of the mobile home came to my house beating on the front door and said a tree was on my mother’s house. I went to her front door and was able to get her out.”

Mrs. Echols, 85, was also in the home when the tree fell. Mrs. Echols said, “I was in the living room on the couch and it didn’t touch me. It didn’t even wet the couch where I was at.”

Mrs. Echols said she climbed over stuff in the hallway of the mobile home to the bedroom door and called for her husband, but there was no answer. “I knew he was dead then,” she said.

Mrs. Echols said her and her husband have been married for 30 years. “I had a bad heart and bad stomach problems and we were just sure I would be the first to go,” she said.

Mr. Echols is survived by a daughter, Michelle Waite, Dawsonville; son, Charles Echols, Rock Spring Community in Banks County; two step-sons, Billy Whitfield and Horace Whitfield; several grandchildren, great-grandchildren and a host of other family members.

Ivie Funeral Home, Commerce, will be handling the funeral arrangements for Mr. Echols.