Wind gusts of around 50 kilometres per hour caused a 17-year-old paper bark tree to uproot and fall on a car in the parking lot of Malalane Spar in Mpumalanga at around 10am on Tuesday.
All four occupants escaped unscathed, but the tree had to be removed from their severely damaged car by crane.
“We have already had to remove seven trees from the parking area because they posed the danger of falling,” said Lex Hollmann of Malelane Spar.
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“Paper bark trees have a very shallow root system, which makes it easy for them to topple over. It’s very sad, because I planted these trees and they are like my children.”
As a precaution, Hollmann and his team will trim the new growth on these trees.
“There’s a lot of moisture in the air and the wind gets caught in the fresh leaves of these paper barks, which also amass to them falling over,” Hollmann added.
Video credit: Lex Hollmann
This article was republished from Lowvelder with permission
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