Windstorm causes tree to crush former Surrey MLA’s son’s car

It was a rude awakening Tuesday morning for former Surrey MLA Peter Fassbender when a massive cedar tree fell outside his Langley home, flattening his son’s car.

“My neighbour says he had an arborist look at it a while ago and he thought the tree was okay, but it just came down, the whole root bulb came and it just blocked the road and landed right on the back of my son’s car.”

The tree was brought down by a windstorm that slammed the south coast overnight, bringing gusts of up to 90 kilometres per hour to some areas.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, but Fassbender said the cedar narrowly missed a woman and her daughter.

“It was quite a shock and what was a real blessing was the lady and her daughter, as the tree came down, a branch brushed the back of her car as she was driving by. Two seconds later the tree would have come down on top of her car.”

Fassbender said the incident is a reminder of how dangerous mature trees can be.

“When we had as dry a summer as we did, the roots are not that deep and if the wind comes in a certain direction you just never know.”