Tree Falls On Woman Cleaning Car, May Have Actually Saved Her Life
OLD BRIDGE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A woman in Middlesex County had a close call Tuesday after a tree landed on her car as she was clearing snow off of it.
In a weird twist, it may have actually saved her life.
As CBS2's Jessica Layton reported, it was an unexpected scare for John Hick.
"I never heard her scream," he said. All he heard was the tree snap.
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John is the husband of the woman who had to be rescued. While cleaning snow off of her sports utility vehicle, a tree crashed down and crashed the roof. Nearby neighbors scrambled to save her as she was trapped underneath.
"My neighbors were frantically trying to get her out," Old Bridge resident Michael Valvo said. "They couldn't lift the tree."
"She was pinned under there and luckily the fire department is right around the corner," John said.
Because of this, the folks on Bramble Lane in Old Bridge know better than anyone how the wind proved to be dangerous and unpredictable in areas of New Jersey, fueling powerful waves all along the shore. Several girls say they even knocked them down during their walk over the Sandy Hook Bridge.
"Bad idea in the moment," Sandy Hook resident Laura Nagle said, "we thought it would be more of a fun snow adventure."
The adventurous day off from school continued with a ride home from mom. Fortunately they drove away from the worst of the flooding in Sea Bright, where Beach Street looked more like a lake Tuesday afternoon.
Safety was top of mind for first responders in Manasquan as flooding forced street closures, the wind caused power outages, and trees to collapse there.
Meanwhile, John says while his wife suffered some cuts and back pain, tests at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital revealed an unrelated medical issue they need to tackle.
"Maybe that's why God smacked her with a tree," he joked. "It's sort of a blessing in disguise."
Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday the winter storm that was expected to drop several inches of snow across New Jersey turned out to be an "under performer.
The state of emergency he issued Monday night for the Garden State has been lifted, but the governor still urged residents to stay off the roads so crews can continue their cleanup efforts, especially in northern Jersey, where some areas saw snowfall amounts as high as 20 inches.
In the end, Central Jersey saw little snow and mostly rain fell in southern areas of the state.
