LITHIA, Fla. — A Hillsborough family received quite a scare Thursday morning after severe storms and high winds overnight caused a tree to crash down through their barn, trapping several of their horses.

Seven horses were inside their stalls at Waterford Stables in Lithia when the storms rolled through. Kate and Albert Waterford were asleep inside their home when they heard the loud boom.

"We heard just an explosion, and we jumped out of bed." Kate said.

Once it was safe, the couple ran outside and found three of the horses were trapped. Kate said they feared the worst.

"'There's no way the filly in the first stall survived,'" she said, describing her initial fears. "'She's dead. It's crushed completely, the tree is on top of the stall."

With the help of dozens of friends along with firefighters from Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, the Waterfords were able to set the horses free. To their relief, the filly she fear for was OK.

"By the grace of God, she's alive and only scratched," Kate said.

Affected by the shut down

With the barn destroyed, Kate said she had to cancel the riding and training lessons she typically gives. To make matters worse, because of the government shutdown, Albert isn’t getting a paycheck.

"I did 20 years in the Coast Guard, retired and came back as a civilian employee, and being on the furlough, not getting a paycheck, so we are really tight on what we spend," Albert said.

But in the midst of a storm, the family has found a silver lining.

"No animals were hurt, nobody was hurt, and these things can just be replaced," Albert told us.

The family believes they had a least a few thousand dollars in damage. Friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help. To learn more about their situation or to make a donation, visit the family's GoFundMe page.

This GoFundMe.com site is not managed by Spectrum Bay News 9. For more information on how the site works and the rules, visit gofundme.com/safety.