‘Heaven watching over us’: Family escape uninjured after tree falls on ute on expressway

Part of a tree fell on a ute when it was blown over the northbound lane of the Hawke’s Bay Expressway through Napier on Monday. Photo / Google Maps
A family has been left shaken but grateful to have escaped uninjured after their ute was struck by a falling tree along the Hawke’s Bay Expressway near Napier.
No one was injured in the incident, which occurred about 12.50pm on Monday on the northbound lane of the expressway (State Highway 2/50), between Meeanee Rd and Kennedy Rd.
Levi Wallace was a passenger and his partner, Huria Andrews, was driving their Ford Ranger ute when high winds struck.
“I thought the wind was just blowing the tree from side to side but then it got closer to the ground, and by then it was too late, we were pretty much underneath it,” Wallace said.
“It landed on our bonnet and we went straight through, more or less.
“I was just hoping the tree wouldn’t come through the windscreen, otherwise one of us would have been injured.”
Remarkably, the windscreen didn’t break. Andrews kept her cool and managed to pull over safely, albeit with a dented bonnet and a busted headlight and wing mirror.
Their son was in the backseat, and they called police to report the fallen tree once they caught their breath.
Wallace said the tree looked like a pine tree and was about four or five metres tall, and about half the tree appeared to break off and fall across the northbound lane.
“I’m thankful that my dad and my brother up in heaven must have been watching over us,” Wallace said of them escaping injury.
The northbound lane was blocked for almost an hour as workers and emergency services responded and cleared the tree.
Winds were blowing over 50km/h at a MetService weather station at the airport early afternoon on Monday.
“I’ve seen it worse,” Wallace said of the high winds. “It didn’t seem there was that much wind, really.”
Police confirmed no one was injured in the incident.
Meanwhile, two people were seriously injured in a Napier crash on Sunday afternoon.
Emergency services responded to the two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Hyderabad Rd and Pandora Rd about 1.05pm.
A Hato Hone St John spokesman said three people were taken to Hawke’s Bay Hospital by ambulance, two in a serious condition and one in a minor condition.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokeswoman said firefighters used the “jaws of life” to cut one person out from one of the vehicles.
A police spokeswoman said the road and railway track were clear by 3pm.