MARION COUNTY, Fla. — A 6-year-old Marion County boy got a startling wake up call Thursday morning.
It wasn’t when a tree came crashing through the roof of his home right onto where he was sleeping, but when his parents woke him up to make sure he was OK.
Jeremy Difiore, of Belleview, said his son was sleeping in his parents’ room because he was scared of the winds and heavy rain from Tropical Storm Eta when the tree came crashing through the roof.
“We heard a loud crash,” Difiore said. “It sounded like someone dropped a truck (on) the house.”
He said his son slept through the sound and woke up covered in drywall and insulation and startled by his parents making sure he was OK at about 2:30 a.m.
He said neighbors also rushed over to the home to help the family move items out of the room while rain continued to fall.
“They’re good people,” Difiore said.
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key Water splashes against the seawall along Pass A Grille Way in St. Pete Beach, Fla., on Wednesday, Nov 11, 2020, as squalls from Tropical Storm Eta move through Pinellas County. (Scott Keeler/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key Erika Lane takes photos of the surf at Lido Public Beach in Sarasota, Fla. on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, as Hurricane Eta passes to the west in the Gulf of Mexico. (Mike Lang/Sarasota Herald-Tribune via AP)
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key Nancy Ferro of Dunedin, Fla., center, and Charmyn Nixon of New Port Richey, wait for rides home in heavy rain from Tropical Storm Eta in downtown Tarpon Springs after they were sent home early from work. Eta has weakened to a tropical storm just hours after regaining hurricane strength as Florida braces for a second hit from the storm. (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key Sponge diver Alan Fox, 16, of Tarpon Springs, Fla., slacks the lines Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, on his sponge boat, at the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks in preparation for Tropical Storm Eta. (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key Hotel guests carry their luggage across flooded Benjamin Franklin Dr. to get to their car on Lido Key in Sarasota, Fla. on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, as Hurricane Eta passes to the west in the Gulf of Mexico. (Mike Lang/Sarasota Herald-Tribune via AP)
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key A driver navigates around vehicles stalled in the middle of Benjamin Franklin Dr. on Lido Key in Sarasota, Fla. on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, as Hurricane Eta passes to the west in the Gulf of Mexico. (Mike Lang/Sarasota Herald-Tribune via AP)
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key Water splashes against the seawall along Pass A Grille Way in St. Pete Beach, Fla,, on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020 as squalls from Tropical Storm Eta move through Pinellas County. Eta has weakened to a tropical storm just hours after regaining hurricane strength as Florida braces for a second hit from the storm. (Scott Keeler/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key Brooke Gross, 12, of Port Richey, center, loads a sandbag onto a pickup truck at one of Pasco County's four self-serve sandbag stations at the Magnolia Valley Golf Course, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, in New Port Richey, Fla. Residents in the area scramble to protect their property from potential flooding as Tropical Storm Eta begins to deliver periods of squally weather to continue through today and into tomorrow as rain bands move into the Tampa Bay area. (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key Surfer Emily Ashe, 22, Miami, wades through an angry Gulf of Mexico as waves pound Pass-A-Grille Beach, St. Pete Beach, Fla., during Tropical Storm Eta, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020. Eta has weakened to a tropical storm just hours after regaining hurricane strength as Florida braces for a second hit from the storm. (Scott Keeler/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key A man makes his way along Bayshore Blvd in heavy rain due to Tropical Storm Eta, on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020 in Tampa, Fla. Eta has weakened to a tropical storm just hours after regaining hurricane strength as Florida braces for a second hit from the storm. (Martha Asencio Rhine/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key Residents clear debris from a flooded street in the Driftwood Acres Mobile Home Park, in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Eta, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, in Davie, Fla. Tropical Storm Eta was squatting off western Cuba on Tuesday after drifting away from South Florida, where it unleashed a deluge that flooded entire neighborhoods and covered the floors of some homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key Residents clear debris from a flooded street in the Driftwood Acres Mobile Home Park in the shadow of the Guitar Hotel at Seminole Hard Rock, in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Eta, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, in Davie, Fla. Tropical Storm Eta was squatting off western Cuba on Tuesday after drifting away from South Florida, where it unleashed a deluge that flooded entire neighborhoods and covered the floors of some homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on west Florida, makes landfall near Cedar Key Victoria Rodriguez, left, and Angela Mojica, right, walk on a flooded street in the Driftwood Acres Mobile Home Park, in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Eta, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, in Davie, Fla. Tropical Storm Eta was squatting off western Cuba on Tuesday after drifting away from South Florida, where it unleashed a deluge that flooded entire neighborhoods and covered the floors of some homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)