KANNAPOLIS — A couple on C Street got a traumatic wake up Sunday morning when a car crashed into their home around 1 a.m.

Brandon Harris and his wife, Kim, feel lucky to be alive after a car crashed into their home between the living room and their bedroom, said Brandon.

“I was hit in the face with debris so hard it broke my nose,” he said. He suffers with allergies, and said he had gone to sleep on the couch so Kim could rest. He woke to what sounded like a shotgun going off next to his head.

“The car was completely inside our house,” he said, “it hit that hard.” He and Kim got their 11-year-old daughter from her room and let both of their dogs out of their kennels so they could all get safely out.

Brandon said a passenger in the car got the driver of the vehicle out of the car, and EMS crews put her in a burn bag and airlifted her to a hospital.

Kim crawled out of the bedroom wall just before there was an explosion that Brandon said he thinks must have been the car’s gas tank. As the family was escaping, they had begun to see the carpet and the mattress catching fire.

Brandon said the whole family was stunned, disoriented initially, but said as soon as the family was out, he called 911. Firefighters arrived “within five minutes,” he said, and the response was tremendous.

One of the two dogs, Luna, a Blue Heeler, was still missing early Sunday morning, but by 11:30 a.m. she had been found.

The Red Cross has helped the family with temporary housing and Brandon said they had been more than supportive. Parents of both Brandon and Kim live within 15 minutes and have been helping as well. Brandon’s parents came out in the early hours and Kim’s parents came a few hours later, all relieved to hear no one in the family was hurt.

According to information from N.C. State Highway Patrol, the driver of the car, 47-year-old Gina Herring, has been charged with failure to stop for a stop sign, speeding and reckless driving.

The house, a total loss, has been the family’s home for five years, but Brandon said he thinks the time has come for them to relocate.

“We will probably keep the land, and there is a workshop still there, but I think we’ll find a place with some land out in the country and off the main road,” he said.

The family has lost all of their belongings and will likely need some assistance replacing some basic necessities, but they are still working out how to best make that happen.

“I’m wearing my dad’s clothes right now,” Brandon said, “but we don’t have anywhere to store many donations, so as soon as we can figure things out, we’ll let you know.”

Included in the response were Enochville Fire Department, Locke Township Fire Department, Kannapolis Fire Department, Atwell Fire Department, Landis Fire Department, Rowan County Emergency Services, N.C. State Highway Patrol and Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.