A large oak tree smashed into several cars early Monday morning in San Mateo, causing extensive damage.
It happened on 4th Avenue near El Camino Real around 3:30 a.m.
Three cars were below it and two caught the brunt of the falling tree, including Kelly Chen’s Honda.
She woke up to the car alarms.
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“I thought someone got robbed, but it turns out a tree robbed my car,” said Kelly Chen of San Mateo. “It looks like a crime scene inside.”
Chen couldn’t believe how bad the damage was after the tree was removed.
“This is like the first car that I bought – her name is Betty,” said Chen. “Only two got hit, and mine was the worst. The tree literally chopped my car in half, and there’s still a branch piercing through the middle.”
Crews spent much of the morning chopping it up and clearing 4th Avenue, which took several hours to clean up.
Residents of the condo complex say the tree was over 100 years old -- and healthy. They shared a picture of what it looked like before.
“Quite a shock to come out and see it. It was a beautiful tree. It really was the architectural signature for the building,” said Ken Faller of San Mateo.
Luckily, no one was hurt when it came down.
Chen said she’ll now work with insurance to find a new car.
It’s the only one she and her fiance had, and she certainly wasn’t expecting to lose it to a tree.
“I’m assuming a lot of the dirt was loose from all the rain. It’s crazy and such a freak accident,” she said.
