‘That was lucky!’ Watch as falling tree narrowly misses SUV on North Carolina street
A tree came crashing down onto a North Carolina street, narrowly missing the driver of an SUV, video shows.
The car was approaching a Durham intersection when the giant tree gave way right behind it, according to footage posted to Reddit on Thursday. The falling branches can be seen pulling down traffic signals and power lines before slamming onto the pavement below.
“Wow, that was lucky!” the Durham Transportation Department commented on a Twitter post about the close call.
The harrowing moments unfolded Wednesday night near West Markham Avenue and Washington Street, north of downtown Durham, according to the Reddit user who shared the video. The city of Durham on Thursday urged people to avoid that intersection as officials worked to reopen the area to traffic by late Thursday.
As of about 1:30 p.m., traffic signals had been repaired and Duke Energy was fixing utility lines, city spokesperson Amy Blalock told McClatchy News in an email.
Officials said the tree fell on private land at the northwest corner of the intersection. The incident also “disrupted” the Washington Street sidewalk, which is scheduled for repair, according to Blalock.
Video of the near miss left some people fretting about how things could have turned out worse — or in awe of the driver’s good fortune.
“That was a really close call for that SUV, had the light been red and they were coming to a stop right there. yikes,” one person wrote on Reddit.
“I’d be on my way to buy lottery ticket,” another person commented.
This story was originally published April 15, 2021 at 12:29 PM with the headline "‘That was lucky!’ Watch as falling tree narrowly misses SUV on North Carolina street."
