On Thursday, students at the University of Redlands woke up to an unexpected sight: a huge tree had toppled over behind Melrose hall during the strong winds of the night. At this time it’s unclear if anyone heard the loud crash, but many students saw it.
Three cars were buried under the massive branches of the tree, and it wasn’t until workers began removing the tree around 8:30 a.m. that the extent of the damage became clear.
One car was smashed, the truck caved in from a direct impact by the trunk of the tree and its back window shattered. Its front windshield hadn’t escaped either; there was a hole likely where a branch had pierced through and the roof of the car was dented. Scratches covered the vehicle completely.
The car next to it shared similar damage, though less extreme. The dent in its roof was more sizable and, though the trunk remained mostly intact, its back window was shattered as well. This car too, was covered in scratches.
The final car was the luckiest of the three, the only visible damage being a minor dent in the back with small scratching. It seemed to have dodged most of the damage from the fall of the tree.
From around 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., workers from Andre Landscaping excavated the cars from the massive tree until all of the smaller branches and leaves had been removed, sent through a wood-chipper, and the larger trunk had been mostly cut into smaller wooden discs. A large portion of the trunk still remained, laying next to the splintered hole where the tree had once stood.
The strong winds lasted for the rest of the day without other trees on campus toppling over, meanwhile work has been resumed to remove the rest of the tree.
Following the fall of the tree, the university sent out an email warning students about the strong winds, not mentioning anything about the earlier incident.
This story is still developing. The Redlands Bulldog will update the story when new information arises.
Photos by Madelyn Olsen.
Madelyn Olsen is a second-year student majoring in Saxophone Performance and is the current Editor-in-Chief of The Redlands Bulldog. She loves writing, making music, and taking care of her chickens in her free time.
