Unfortunate morning: Loh checking the damaged parts of her new car which she bought just a few weeks ago, at the scene where two trees fell down in Macalister Road, Penang. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: Company executive Karen Loh drove to a cafe in her new car, which she bought just weeks earlier, anticipating a lovely breakfast on a Saturday morning.
Just minutes into chowing down, she heard a loud sound, and people around her started screaming.
“I dashed out of the cafe, just like the others. To my horror, I found my car crushed under a fallen tree.
“I could not believe my eyes, as I had only bought it less than a month ago,” said Loh, 39.
Loh, who had parked her car in the hotel parking lot where the cafe is located, said she was devastated to see the vehicle become a wreck. However, she was thankful that she was not inside the car when the tree collapsed.
“And luckily, it happened on a less busy day; otherwise, it could have been worse,” she said.
A huge angsana tree on the left side of the one-way Jalan Macalister uprooted and fell during a downpour at about 10am yesterday.
The tree toppled across the road and crushed another angsana tree, which then fell into the compound of the parking lot, damaging four cars that were parked there.
There was no one on the scene at the time, so no injuries occurred. Both the trees are believed to be about 100 years old.
Another motorist, Annie Chuah, 45, who had also parked her car at the hotel parking lot, said, “The side mirror is broken and the roof and a door are damaged.”
But she said that she was grateful that she was safe.
Chuah, who was also having breakfast at the hotel cafe, was shaken by the mishap.
As a result, she said she would rest at home.
She added that she would also lodge a police report soon and get her car fixed.
On Tuesday, a man died and two others were injured after a giant tree fell onto Jalan Sultan Ismail in Kuala Lumpur, impacting 17 vehicles.
The 47-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.
