A branch from this tree fell on an Ann Arbor woman during Tuesday night's storm and sent her to the hospital.
John Counts | AnnArbor.com
A 61-year-old woman was hospitalized with a mild concussion and a knee injury after dodging a falling tree branch in her west side Ann Arbor neighborhood during Tuesday evening's storm.
The woman and her 63-year-old husband, both of whom did not want to be named, were walking their cockapoo in the 400 block of Glendale Drive near Charlton Avenue around 5:30 p.m. when they were caught unawares by a downpour, the husband told AnnArbor.com.
It wasn't raining when the couple left their home in the 500 block of Glendale to walk the dog about 10 minutes earlier, the man said.
But by the time they reached Charlton down the block, however, the storm was blowing in. It was pouring so hard, the couple sought out umbrellas from a neighbor, the husband said.
The woman ran ahead of her husband and the cockapoo in an attempt to get home and out of the rain as quickly as possible. She was headed south on Glendale when a branch from a tree was ripped from the trunk and fell on her, he said.
Kristen Salla lives in the home next to the tree. She said she could hear the branch falling on the vehicle parked in her driveway.
"We saw the wind and the rain come through and then heard this huge crack," Salla said. "I looked out and saw the tree fall on our car. I ran to the door and heard this really high-pitched screaming."
Meanwhile, the woman's husband was rounding the corner with the cockapoo when he saw his wife on the ground.
Salla ran out to help and found the woman lying on her back behind the car on the sidewalk under the branch, which she described as "huge" and probably about "two feet in diameter." The branch was suspended on the vehicle.
"She was saying, 'Call an ambulance,' " Salla said.
The woman's husband said the branch fell on her, but may not have directly hit her, adding that the mild concussion and twisted knee were likely sustained from the fall.
The woman was taken to the University of Michigan Hospital for the knee injury.
Joyce Williams with Huron Valley Ambulance confirmed paramedics were called to the block and took a patient to the hospital in unstable condition at 5:30 p.m.
The husband said Wednesday morning his wife was still in the hospital with a tibial plateau fracture in the left knee. She was expected to be released in a day or so, but full recovery could take weeks, he said.
The husband stopped by Salla's house Wednesday morning to give her an update on his wife's condition and thank her for the help.
"All the neighbors have been really nice," he told AnnArbor.com. "It's a really nice and caring neighborhood."
John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.