REDMOND, Wash. — A woman in her 30s was badly injured when a large, heavy tree branch fell on top of her at Redmond's Idylwood Beach Park Thursday afternoon.
Witnesses told KIRO 7 the woman suffered extensive facial and shoulder injuries. Paramedics rushed the woman to Harborview Medical Center where she was listed in critical condition Thursday night.
Casey Hedglin and her two kids were horrified to see the 30-foot branch suddenly crack off about 70 feet up, tumble down to the beach and hit the woman while she was scrambling to get away.
"We heard a large cracking sound and my daughter said look at that tree falling," said Hedglin. "It just went boom! All the leaves and everything were flying up and it was kind of unbelievable."
"I just saw a bunch of people trying to help," said Belle Hedglin. "They lifted the branch off of her."
Master arborist Steve Lambert of Lambert TreeScapes examined the broken cottonwood tree branch, and said cottonwood trees can fall with no warning, especially when they're weakened by extended wet or dry spells.
In April, a cottonwood tree slammed into a woman's car while she was driving on I-5 in Fife, leaving her with devastating injuries.
Lambert says going more than 54 days without rain, right after the wettest winter on record is stressing and weakening trees like the cottonwood that fell, from the roots to the top branches.
"The trees are probably trying to recover from all of that, and then they're dealt this second blow of drought stress," Lambert said. "Trees which are already weakened can die from the top down. Things could get interesting this winter."