Trees and branches were coming down at a rapid pace in San Francisco Thursday morning, with one seriously injuring a pedestrian near San Francisco General Hospital, a fire department spokeswoman said.
The man was trapped under the tree when it fell in the area of 23rd Street and Potrero Avenue at about 7:30 a.m., fire spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said.
The pedestrian was trapped underneath and was extricated and taken to the hospital with a life-threatening head injury. The tree also brought down Municipal Railway lines and fell on cars in the area, Talmadge said.
Maggie Winterstein said her husband was parked at 23rd and Potrero, about to start work on a pipe project. She says her husband got out before he got hit and then tried to help.
“There were two other men trying to lift the tree,” Winterstein said. “And he was trying to lift it with them. It was too heavy. [The victim] was pinned underneath the branch.”
Light rain hit the San Francisco Bay Area and firefighters and public works crews were kept busy Thursday with falling trees and branches around the city.
A branch also fell on a car at Gough and Post streets Thursday morning and a tree fell on cars near Steiner and Eddy streets as well, Talmadge said.
No injuries were reported in either incident.
Overnight, Public Works says four or five trees fell in the city, mostly large ficus trees.
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A city spokesperson said the ficus trees were planted 40 to 50 years ago. The city stopped planting the trees in the 1990s because they were starting to become problematic. Some of the trees the city deemed to have a “potential for failure” have already been removed.
The Department of Public Works says after decades of cuts to the tree maintenance budget, some trees go without inspection for as long as 10 to 12 years.
San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener said he plans to ask voters to approve $20 to $30 million a year to help maintain trees and keep the area safe.
"We just want people to be safe and we want healthy trees," Wiener said. "You only have healthy trees if you invest in maintenance."
Meanwhile, experts are expecting more tree trouble all over the Bay Area. After more than a year of the area suffering from a severe drought, storms in the forecast are expected to loosen the soil and send trees toppling.
Bay City News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
