Gusty Wind Drops Tree on Trailer

Friday, January 02 2009 @ 05:14 pm EST

Contributed by: CBrining

From The Altanic City Press Published: Thursday, January 01, 2009

By ELAINE ROSE Staff Writer, 609-272-7215

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - Strong wind knocked down a tree Wednesday afternoon at a mobile home park on the Black Horse Pike, sending the trunk crashing into the roof of a trailer and downing power lines, police said.

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No one was home in the trailer at the Atlantic Gardens complex at the time of the incident, which was called in at 1:34 p.m., and there were no injuries, Patrolman Charles Davenport said.

The tree did take down some electrical lines, and several fire companies were called to the scene to guard against sparking wires.

Police cordoned off the area where the trunk had smashed through the roof of the trailer and uprooted the deck.

The trailer probably will be condemned, Davenport said.

Neighbor George Pool said he was in his home when he heard a loud crackling noise. He looked out his window and saw the tree fall on the trailer. Then he ran to an open window in the damaged trailer and called inside to make sure no one was home.

"It was like this big crackling, because the deck was coming up," Pool said.

Rodney Emory, 15, said he was in a nearby wooded area with some friends when they heard a loud "kaboom" as the tree fell.

"It's so sad. Somebody could have been in that house," Emory said. "With the wind and all, there could have been a fire. Thank God nobody was hurt."

The owner's daughter, Katrina Hubbard, was on a cell phone trying to call her mother with the news.

Her mother's truck was not in the yard, so she was reasonably sure her mother was not home at the time, Hubbard said.

Winds at Atlantic City International Airport at 2 p.m. were 35 mph, with gusts as strong as 51 mph, according to the National Weather Service Web site.

The winds downed trees and branches and scattered debris, and other damage was reported around southern New Jersey.

At about 3:20 p.m., a large evergreeen fell across Chestnut Avenue in Pleasantville, just south of Decatur Avenue. There was no damage other than some downed wires, which knocked out power to some homes, police said.