Executive director of United Way of Selma and Dallas County Jeff Cothran heard a loud boom and crash in his office Tuesday morning. When he went to investigate, he found two tree limbs had fallen and damaged the building.

“I had a lady in my office with her family,” he said. “We were just sitting there chatting when there was a loud boom and crash. The whole building shook.”

Fortunately, nobody was injured, but the building’s roof and ceiling were damaged.

Steve Cole of Denmark Tree Service LLC. said he gives the damage a score of ten on a scale of one to ten.

“It’s pretty major,” he said. “A couple of limbs fell through the roof. I don’t have a reason as to why it fell.”

The falling limbs surprised Cothran. He said he would expect a tree to fall, during a storm, but not with a clear blue sky and sunny forecast. One of the limbs barely missed him and his clients, Cothran said.

Cothran’s already started working on getting everything back to order at the United Way office.

He said his insurance agency has contacted Steward Construction Company to fix the damage to the building. Repairs should begin early next week, once he gets quotes from the contracting company, Cothran said.

He said he doesn’t know the cost of the damages, yet.

“They’ll [contractors] send all of that to the insurance company,” he said. “The insurance covers everything. So, the cost to United Way will be nonexistent. We’re really lucky everything was fully insured.”

The holes in the ceiling and roof are expected to be patched. In fact, Cothran said the office will be up and running Wednesday.

“My main thing was none of our clients and no one was harmed,” he said. “We were able to keep all of our information safe. We shouldn’t have to skip a beat. We’re going to be back at it in the morning getting ready for the new campaign and trying to take care of people as they call.”

Cothran said he apologizes for any inconvenience as repairs are made but said all programs are fully functioning.