Neighbors in Wilmington step up to help couple after large tree falls on their home

WILMINGTON, Del. (CBS) — Ruth Smith and her husband stood on their street Wednesday afternoon and watched crews remove the tree that destroyed part of the place they've called home for the past 31 years.

"I was watching TV and I heard this whirling noise and the wind, and next thing I know the ceiling and the roof were coming down on my head," Smith said.

Tuesday night's storm sent a large tree into their home on Durboraw Road in Wilmington around 9 p.m. The heavy winds knocked out power to thousands of customers.

Samantha Ziegler said she felt her house shake next door.

"We didn't know if it was a tornado or thunder until we came outside and noticed branches all over our driveway," Ziegler said.

Smith was able to get out from the debris in the living room and ran upstairs to help her husband.

"The wall had collapsed in on him, so I had to get him out of there and downstairs," she said.

Smith only talked with CBS News Philadelphia after she and her husband were released from the hospital. Smith broke her pinky finger, and her husband suffered a bump on his head.

Now, their neighbors are stepping up to help.

"They have been over there helping us clean the refrigerators out and giving us a cool space to be in and anything else that we need," said Smith, who added she and her husband will now be staying with family nearby.

To add insult to injury, Smith said she just paid off a recent home renovation only hours before the storm, but she knows things could have been much worse.

"We can't be replaced, she said. "A house can, belongings can."