A Harrogate resident has spoken of her relief that nobody was hurt today when a tree from her garden fell outside a school.
The 50-foot beech tree crashed across Oatlands Drive at about 1pm, glancing the wall of St Aidan’s Church of England High School opposite.
Fortunately it happened out of term time. However, Oatlands Drive is still a hive of activity at that time of day, with numerous pedestrians and vehicles passing by but fortunately nobody was doing so when the tree came down.
It fell from a garden belonging to Rowena Wright, who said:
“I’m just so grateful nobody was hurt.”
Pedestrians navigate the fallen tree.
Ms Wright said she was working upstairs when she heard a noise and assumed it was caused by a workman next door.
Minutes later a motorist, who ironically turned out to be a tree surgeon on his way to a job, knocked on her door to tell her what had happened.
Oatlands Drive was blocked to traffic and pedestrians had to climb over the tree.
The tree looked healthy and Ms Wright, who has lived in the house for 30 years, thinks a combination of heavy rain weakening its roots and the weight at the top may have contributed to the incident.
The roots of the tree.
She added:
“We have regular tree care. If it had looked like it was dying we would have had it cut. It’s quite bizarre.”
See the Stray Ferret’s Facebook page for a video of the scene shortly after the incident.
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Harrogate couple’s dismay after tree crashes on Porsche for second time
A Harrogate couple have been left dismayed after a large branch from a tree crashed onto their Porsche during Storm Otto today.
Zenya Dunn, who lives on Granby Road, told the Stray Ferret that her partner Michael woke this morning to go to work, only to find his car underneath the fallen tree.
She said it’s the second time this has happened to the couple and that the council had been informed about the dangerous tree numerous times.
Ms Dunn said:
“I woke up and he asked me if he could borrow my car. It was the car he always wanted.
“It’s the second time something like this has happened. My partner has rung the council about the tree before.”
Ms Dunn added that the tree had almost hit the front window of their house.
It also narrowly missed her Range Rover, which was parked next to the Porsche 911.
North Yorkshire County Council’s highways teams arrived to deal with the tree this morning.
Workers from North Yorkshire County Council’s highways team were on scene this morning to deal with the tree.
It comes as Storm Otto caused widespread disruption across Harrogate this morning.
On Montpellier, a tree fell onto a picture frame where tourists pose for pictures. However, the frame appeared to have withstood the impact.
Meanwhile, fallen trees caused disruption for motorists on Leeds Road, Ripon Road and on the A61 near Pannal.
You can recap all of today’s storm news in the Harrogate district here.
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Warning as fallen tree blocks path in the Pinewoods
A tree has fallen along the main path between Valley Gardens and Hallow Moor Road.
The tree was spotted this morning by the Pinewoods Conservation Group who subsequently tweeted to alert the public.
The tweet read:
“Please take care in the very wet woods. Tree down over the main path from Valley Gardens to Harlow Moor Rd that should hopefully be cleared soon.”
The path connects Valley Gardens to RHS Garden Harlow Carr and lies deep within the Pinewoods.
Read more:
- Met Office issues weather warning for rain in Harrogate district
- Pinewoods charity to meet Harrogate Spring Water to discuss expansion
Weather warnings have been issued across North Yorkshire with Harrogate in particular being affected by the rain and flooding.
Please let us know if the rain is causing problems where you are, email us at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk
Hampsthwaite volunteers clear-up after tree falls in churchyardVolunteers arrived at a Hampsthwaite churchyard today to clear debris left after a tree was urgently felled.
The centuries-old tree splintered during Storm Malik on Friday night, luckily avoiding graves in the cemetery at St Thomas a Becket Church.
But with some of the tree remaining, and Storm Corrie approaching, the decision was taken yesterday to fell the rest of it urgently in case it was blown over and damaged the graves.
Fortunately Darley tree surgeon Ross Hanley was able to fulfil the task before the winds picked up last night.
The clear-up operation of the fallen tree began today.
Today about 15 volunteers including a group from Community Payback, an initiative whereby offenders help with projects in their local communities, joined the clean-up operation.
Lead volunteer and Hamspthwaite resident Geoff Howard said:
“Ross Hanley was here to look at a tree that fell during Storm Arwen only a few weeks ago and he saw how close this one was to falling.
Luckily the branch that came down on Friday night fell between graves but if the full tree had fallen it could have caused damage to dozens and dozens of graves.”
Read more:
- Harrogate district braced for Storm Corrie
- Harrogate landscaping boss tells of lucky escape from falling tree
The graveyard has over 3,000 plots. The church also has a public right of way running through it.
Mr Howard said it would have been too dangerous to leave the tree in such a precarious position because of the risk it posed to people and the churchyard.
He thanked volunteers for dealing with the debris today and hoped the clean-up operation would be completed by the end of the day.
Tree blocks road in Ripon as strong winds hit Harrogate districtA main road in Ripon has been blocked this afternoon due to a fallen tree.
Strong winds have caused minor disruption across the Harrogate district this afternoon.
But Ripon appears to have born the brunt, with trees down on Kirkby Road and also Lark Lane, according to North Yorkshire Police.
Police are urging drivers to take extra care.
Strong winds were forecast today but the Met Office did not issue any weather warnings for the district.
https://twitter.com/NYorksPolice/status/1476224341591351299
Nidderdale Greenway blocked by huge fallen tree near Ripley
A huge tree has fallen on the Nidderdale Greenway, blocking the route to the east of Ripley.
Local resident Megan Hatfield spotted the blockage when she was cycling on the route today and was forced to turn back.
She said the section of the Greenway was “passable by scrambling on foot, but not by bike”.
The tree is thought to have fallen within the last 24 hours. The Greenway is popular with walkers and cyclists, especially at weekends when it is often busy.
North Yorkshire County Council has been alerted to the blockage, which lies less than a kilometre east of where the path meets the A61 at Ripley. However, a spokesperson said trees adjacent to a right of way are the responsibility of the landowner, and NYCC is working to find and make contact with the relevant person.
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Nidderdale Greenway follows the route of an old railway line from Harrogate to Ripley. It was opened in 2013 and is maintained by Sustrans as part of its national network of cycle routes.
Reduced rail service from Harrogate to Leeds todayNorthern is running a reduced rail service between Harrogate and Leeds due to faults with the signalling system caused by a fallen tree yesterday.
Several trains have already been cancelled this morning and from 10.45am, trains will leave Harrogate Station once an hour rather than the usual twice hourly service.
Trains will leave Leeds Station to Harrogate at 29 minutes past the hour, every hour.
All services, in both directions of travel, will pick up and drop off on platform 1 at Burley Park, Headingley and Horsforth stations.
The disruption is expected to continue until the end of today.
For an up to date timetable visit National Rail.
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Ripon couple saved as tree falls in heavy snow
Ripon couple saved as tree falls in heavy snow
Two couples from Ripon were caught up in unexpected drama yesterday when a tree fell under the weight of snow.
Nicole Bond and her partner Ben Crewe were walking near College Lawns, just off Palace Road, yesterday lunchtime when they heard a cracking noise.
Assuming it was pallets being broken up on the nearby business park, they thought nothing of it – but seconds later realised what was happening. Nicole said:
“Ben looked up and shouted ‘run!’. I froze, but he ran out of the way. Luckily, I was right by where the tree fell, but I didn’t have to move.
“There was a couple that didn’t have time to move. As the tree was falling, there was a massive plume of snow that came up and covered everybody.”
As soon as the snow settled again, Nicole realised how big the tree was – and the damage it could have done.
“I thought the worst had happened. We were screaming, ‘are you OK? Are you hurt?’ Ben went into complete action mode and started pulling branches to get to them and I called for an ambulance.”
The huge tree fell under the weight of snow in Ripon. Photo: Nicole Bond
Very quickly, Ben managed to reach the couple. The woman was shaken but didn’t seem badly hurt, but her husband had a head injury that was bleeding.
Ben and Nicole used their clothes to apply pressure and stop the bleeding, following instructions from the call handlers on the phone.
They were warned that, thanks to the road conditions, it could take 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive – but it only took around five minutes before paramedics were on the scene. They treated the injured couple before taking them to hospital for further assessment.
Read more:
Nicole has since been contacted by the woman to say they are both recovering, her husband having been treated for concussion, and to thank her and Ben for their help on the scene.
It was only chance they were all in the wrong place at the wrong time: Nicole and Ben took a different route for their usual dog walk because of flooding. Having spent the morning helping drivers make their way along snowy roads near home, they had just paused to take a video of the road conditions in the area – and a few seconds more or less could have made all the difference to how the incident played out.
Nicole added:
“It’s just crazy. It was all over within 10 minutes, including the ambulance getting there. We barely even had time to think at all.
“I was quite glad I took Ben out for a walk with me, and for the ambulance staff keeping everybody calm. It could have been a lot worse.”
The fallen tree in Ripon has already been broken up and made safe. Photo: Nicole Bond