Girl swinging in hammock dies after tree falls on her; may be linked to Florence

A young girl in Virginia was killed while swinging on a hammock after a tree the hammock was tied to fell on her, authorities said, noting that rain from Hurricane Florence had made the ground wet.

"It was a tragic accident," Kraig Troxell of the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office told ABC News.

Sabina Henderson, 7, was described by her father as a smart, witty girl who loved to tell jokes.

"She was a powerful personality that lit up the room and was a memorable force for all those that met her," Henderson said in a statement.

Sabina and another child, an 8-year-old boy, were swinging on the hammock together on Saturday evening when the tree it was tied to was uprooted and fell over. Both were rushed to the hospital. The boy had only suffered minor injuries, though, and he was released soon after. Sabina died later that night.

The tree that collapsed on Sabina was already rotting in its trunk, but it was likely a combination of that and the wet ground caused by rain from Hurricane Florence that uprooted the tree, Troxell said. The accident happened during a family gathering.

"She was amazingly kind and thoughtful to her friends and family," Henderson said. "Sabina was genuinely and completely loved by all that knew her. Her loss tore a giant hole in our lives that will never be mended. We will never recover from this we will only survive."