Two children were killed in separate incidents involving fallen trees as amajor winter stormswept through the Southern U.S.

Around 5:40 a.m. on Monday in Decatur, Georgia, fire crews told NBC affiliateWXIAthat a 5-year-old boy was killed when a tree smashed into his home. Family members identified the boy as Zachariah Jackson.

A fire spokesperson told Fox affiliateWAGAthat when crews arrived, they found a downed tree in the middle of the home and heard the boy’s mother screaming.

According to WXIA, loved ones described the young boy as an “absolute sweetheart” who was “the light of everybody’s life.”

“This is a tough one,” Dekalb County Fire Rescue Capt. Jaeson Daniels told the outlet. “This is mother nature, unfortunately. One of those things that are unforeseen.”

He added, “We’ve been receiving a lot of rain in the past week or so and the ground’s just soft and with the high winds, it’s just a recipe for trees being down.”

Dekalb County Fire Rescue, which is investigating, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

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Nearly 200 miles away in Townsend, Tennessee, a 7-year-old girl was also killed after a tree fell on a home.

WBIRreported that due to heavy snow, rescue crews including the Blount County Sheriff’s Office and Townsend Fire Department, responded to multiple incidents of fallen trees and rockslides in the area around the same time.

It has not yet been determined if the winter weather caused the tree to fall, according to ABC affiliateWATE.

The Blount County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The winter storm, which also swept through the Mid-Atlantic, caused a series of crashes and closures.

In Virginia, a snowstorm caused extreme delays on Interstate 95. As a result of a highway closure in both directions due to multiple crashes, many people were stuck in standstill traffic for over 15 hours, spending the night in their vehicles, including Virginia Sen.Tim Kaine.

“I started my normal 2 hour drive to DC at 1pm yesterday. 19 hours later, I’m still not near the Capitol,” hewroteon Twitter Tuesday morning, just before 8:30 a.m. local time. “My office is in touch with @VaDOT to see how we can help other Virginians in this situation. Please stay safe everyone.”

source: people.com