A family at Matana St, Nakasi, escaped a possible life-threatening situation after a tree fell on their driveway.

The mango tree narrowly missed the family car, just moments when homeowner Jagjendra Prasad was driving into the driveway.

“It must have been at least two or three minutes after I had parked my car in front of the house that the tree fell,” Mr Prasad said.

“I dread to think what could have happened if I had been a few minutes late because I always stop at the driveway, open the locks to the gate and then drive in.”

In another life-threatening scenario, Mr Prasad said the tree touched the powerline while falling.

“We heard electrical sparks as the tree fell, but we are lucky it did not cause any damage,” he said.

“That was another incident that was avoided. It happened so suddenly, the tree was quite huge so when it fell its branches brushed the powerlines.”

The tree was located on a vacant plot next to Mr Prasad’s compound.

He is calling on the municipal council and relevant authorities to consider the immediate dangers posed.

“It’s the cyclone season. These kinds of accidents can occur anytime so the town and city councils should see to it that trees that are near properties or power lines be cut off or removed,” he said.

“For us, that tree was not in our compound, it was on a vacant plot next to us, but even then it could have caused considerable damage.”

It is unknown if the fallen tree was linked to the adverse weather caused by Tropical Cyclone Mona.

However, in a briefing National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) briefing yesterday, Prime Minister Bainimarama highlighted that it was important to tie up or nail loose items such as roofing irons that could blow about by the strong winds and possibly cause severe injuries or damage.

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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