Wilmington Rallies Around Family Hit Hard By Storm

WILMINGTON, MA -- A flooded basement, lots of limbs to clean up in the yard and a day or two without electricty are nothing compared to what this week's wind storm did to the Zeppi family of Wilmington. The family has been living in a hotel since Monday, after the storm brought down limbs that damaged the roof of their house and two of their three cars.

The good news is that no one was seriously injured. But now Sue and Renato Zeppi are facing a considerable challenge in getting life back to normal. After all of the damage in Massachusetts this week, assessors have been slow to process the family's insurance claim. And even then, the insurance settlement is not expected to cover all of the Zeppi's expenses. That's where Wilmington residents have come in, supporting a GoFundMe campaign to help the family out.

As of Thursday afternoon, the page had collected $970 in donations. The page's backer, Amy Pritchard, hopes to collect $10,000 for the family to alleviate some of the expenses they are facing.

The Zeppi's and Pritchard were not immediately available for comment Thursday. But according to a Facebook post by Sue Zeppi, the tree tore a hole through the ceiling of their daughter Rachel's room and hit right above her bed. The Wilmington Fire Department evacuated the family on Sunday night.

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Photo by Sue Zeppi.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).