20-meter tree falls on pedestrian in Hung Hom

Photo via Facebook/Love Hung Hom.
Photo via Facebook/Love Hung Hom.

A Hong Kong woman was sent to hospital yesterday after a large tree suddenly came crashing down on top of her, trapping her under its branches.

Headline Daily reports that the the tree in question was a 20-meter Delonix regia — often referred to as Hong Kong’s “flame tree” because of its bright red flowers — on Fuk Chi Street, Hung Hom. The diameter of the tree trunk was about 1.5 feet.

Photo via Facebook/Morris Cheung.
Photo via Facebook/Morris Cheung.

At about 3pm, a 48-year-old female pedestrian, surnamed Lam, was walking along the sidewalk when the tree — which was on the opposite side of the road — suddenly uprooted and fell, trapping Lam under its branches.

Police and firefighters rushed to the scene, where they found Lam conscious, but with a head injury. She was sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in serious condition.

According to a video report by RTHK, engineers arrived at the scene at about 6pm to help clear up the tree trunk and debris.

The Development Bureau told local media that they don’t have any records on the tree’s health as it’s located on a street managed by a private enterprise.

RTHK reports that the property manager will investigate why the tree fell.

Speaking to Apple Daily yesterday, tree expert and former professor of geography Jim Chi-yung, and Conservancy Association chair Ken So said there were two possible reasons for the tree’s collapse.




The first possibility is that the one-meter-wide pit the tree was growing in was too small, meaning there wasn’t enough soil for its roots to fully develop. The second, is that the tree may have been in poor health, partly because of fungus growing on the roots, which may have weakened them.

Jim noted that the roots appeared to be too small for a tree of that size, and that the branches had fewer leaves than normal for a Delonix regia.

He also added that the sidewalk the tree was planted on was quite narrow and not suitable for trees of that size.

Photo via Facebook/Morris Cheung.
Photo via Facebook/Morris Cheung.


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