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Falling tree nearly hits mom and child, obliterates three cars

A massive Linwood tree hit not only one car but tree. But the cars’ owners say it was the best scenario that could have played out.

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- Powerful winds knocked of trees and tree limbs across the Quad Cities, but in one Davenport neighborhood, a massive Linwood tree hit not only one car but also a tree. But the cars' owners say it was the best scenario that could have played out.

Kate Waterloo and her husband Matthew Hamilton have lived on West 14th Street for less than three years. The giant tree in front of their house was probably one of the oldest and biggest on the street.

On Sunday night, it came crashing down.

"It was about little bit before 7 p.m. as storms were rolling through, I was downstairs hanging out with the cats," Waterloo recounted. "The weather radio was going off, there was a thunderstorm warning. Two minutes after that, I hear thunk thunk."

It was the sound of the massive tree, now on top of her Toyota Highlander. and on top of her husband's Ford Fiesta.

A severe panic overcame her, she said.

Hamilton was upstairs when he heard her shouting for him. "She sounded panicked so I ran down in my underwear. 08.38 and then I ran back upstairs to get dressed to run outside to see what had happened."

What they couldn't see, was that there was a third car, covered underneath all the foliage, across the street. What they didn't know at the time, was that their neighbor and her young daughter were still inside.

The tree had hit their car.

"It was big enough that we couldn`t even see their car," Hamilton said. So we had the fire department show up and ask if anyone was hurt or trapped inside our car and we said no. We didn't know that their car was there. Eventually, an ambulance showed up and her and her daughter crawled out of the car and talked to the ambulance people."

"Thankfully they’re okay," his wife added. Her car bore the brunt of the impact. Had it fallen a few feet off, the damage would have been invaluable, she said.

"I guess we were lucky. We were lucky it didn’t kill anyone. We were lucky it just damaged the vehicles and not to anybody," Waterloo said.

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