Downed tree traps woman in car, smashes into Auckland house

Wednesday, 11 April 2018

New North Rd resident Bala Murali Shingade arrived home to a find part of a tree embedded into his roof.

Neighbours rushed to drag away a tree which fell, crushing a car as it drove along a main Auckland road at the height of the storm.

One man grabbed a hand saw to hack at big branches so an off-duty nurse could battle to the car and help the woman driver.

A tree fell onto a car on New North Road, Auckland, trapping a women inside.

Hurricane-force winds and torrential rain battered Auckland overnight, with gusts reached 100-150kmh across central Auckland, peaking at 213kmh at Manukau Heads.

Mt Albert resident Bala Murali Shingade, who has lived with his family in the area for nine years, said he arrived at his New North Rd home about 9:30pm to see the tree in his front yard falling in front of him.

Emergency services took the woman to hospital with minor injuries.

A section of the tree smashed into the roof of the house.

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'I went out to move my car and just heard a massive crack, that's when I saw the last piece of the tree slowly fall across the road,' he said.

'There was a massive crunching sound as it hit the car.'

The sound of the impact rang out across New North Rd, with neighbours rushing out to see what had happened, he said.

'One of the neighbours brought out a saw and started hacking away at the tree, we managed to clear a path to the car.'

Another neighbour, a registered nurse, begun attending to the lone woman driver who was still conscious inside, he said.

Emergency services arrived shortly after, taking the woman to hospital with minor injuries.

One section of the tree had also smashed into the roof of his house, Shingade said.

'My Dad was sitting in the living room watching television when the whole house started to shake, he thought it was an earthquake.'

Civil Defence Auckland emergency management director John Dragicevich said contractors had been out all night to remove trees and debris.

'We will be prioritising cleaning up trees that have damaged power lines and clearing the roads from any storm debris that will impede traffic flow,'

Emergency services received over 1600 calls overnight as a result of the storm, he said.