A college student helping a property owner clear storm-felled trees died January 25, 2025, in Anderson, South Carolina, after being crushed under the root plate of one of the trees. Ethan Alexander Ackerman, 20, of Central, S.C., and two friends, one of whom was the property owner, were clearing an area where several large trees had been uprooted. One of the trees sprang back into an upright position and pinned Ackerman under the root plate. The two friends were not able to move the root plate. First responders removed Ackerman, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a WRDW/WAGT report