Big task: A worker trying his best to remove the two angsana trees that fell along Macalister Road in Penang. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: It was a near-death escape for a woman and her son when she hit the brakes of the MPV she was driving to avoid an uprooted tree that nearly crushed her vehicle.
The woman, in her 30s, who was in the MPV with her son, believed to be between six and eight years old, said she was driving along the one-way Jalan Macalister when she noticed a huge uprooted angsana tree on the left side of the road about to fall.
“I saw the tree and realised that it was about to come down. So, I immediately hit my brakes and we narrowly missed getting crushed under the uprooted tree,” she told reporters at the scene of the incident yesterday.
She said she is thankful that despite the terrifying incident, she and her son, who were both wearing their seat belts, emerged unscathed from the harrowing ordeal that happened at about 10am yesterday.
The woman, who was still in shock when reporters approached her, declined to comment further as she was seen sobbing and hugging a man believed to be related to her.
The woman is among several motorists who narrowly escaped being crushed under the uprooted tree that fell along Jalan Macalister here during a downpour yesterday morning.
The incident is the second one this week.
On Tuesday, a tree that was over 50 years old fell on Jalan Sultan Ismail in Kuala Lumpur, killing one man and injuring two others, at the same time damaging 17 vehicles and disrupting monorail services.
In yesterday’s incident, the massive tree toppled across the road and hit another angsana tree on the opposite side, which then fell into the compound of a hotel parking lot, damaging four cars that were parked there.
Fortunately, there was no one inside any of the cars when the incident occurred.
The road, which is normally a busy stretch on weekdays, was less crowded yesterday.
Both of the affected angsana trees are believed to be 100 years old.
Eight firemen from the Bagan Jermal fire station were dispatched to the scene after the Fire and Rescue Department received a distress call from the public, arriving at 10.16am.
Operations officer Mohd Nazril Hisham Napiah said with the help of a crane that lifted the trees, firemen cleared the road by cutting the trees into smaller sizes to be removed from the scene.
The Penang Island City Council (MBPPP), Civil Defence and police also assisted in the operation.
The incident reported no casualties.
When contacted, botanist Dr Saw Leng Guan said the original grass-covered sidewalk has an impervious concrete walkway now.
“Roots underneath the sidewalk die over time because there’s no moisture underneath the concrete. When that happens, the large primary roots that provide structural anchoring to the tree die and other smaller roots begin to replace the primary roots,” he said.
He added that these tertiary roots, although they can provide water and nutrients to trees, cannot provide structural support.
According to the former curator of the Penang Botanic Gardens, this resulted in root balling over time. He also expressed regret over the problem’s recurrence, which has led to fatal tree falls.
Saw pointed out that pruning alone cannot help and stressed that it must have enough space for the primary and secondary roots to remain healthy.
