Chalkwell tree failure

[kram]

Looks like a significant stem or limb has split out of a park tree, a cedar?

Appears this was the tree before it failed. Benches below.

 

Sad to hear one child has died, another seriously and a few more injured.

 

Children 7, dies, after tree falls in Southend's Chalkwell Park

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

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Police say another child, aged six, is in a serious condition.

Girl, 7, killed and four injured after branch from large tree falls on kids in park | Daily Mail Online

WWW.DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

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A six-year-old girl, who was also caught underneath the tree when it collapsed in Chalkwell Park, in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, is in a critical condition in...

 

 

Hope they have a quick recovery.

 

 

 

[Mick Dempsey]

Very sad 
From the pics it looks like the whole thing just collapsed on itself. 
Cedars are a bit brittle. 
Looking at the before pic the needle cover looks very thin. 
They can die off quite quickly, I hope that wasn’t the case here and a decision was delayed to fell. 

[woody paul]

From what I can see from photos is, tree had proped limb and there was still public access when are parks going to stop doing this. 

[AHPP]

When they’re liable with their own money and not the taxpayers’.

Edited 13 hours ago by AHPP

[log dog]

heart breaking for every one there , wonder if it was windy there when it happened ,it was windy on the wirral saturday .possibly summer branch drop ?

[Decro]

I live quite local to Southend and comments on local press website suggest the tree has been propped for years.

Southend area residents are very quick to raise petitions if the council wants to fell any trees and this must surely delay decisions.   

[Mick Dempsey]

I was googling a bit and that bench around it looks recent.

Edited 13 hours ago by Mick Dempsey

[kram]

In the pics, there are many supports propping up the heavy lower limbs. In the before photos, it looks like a tree that would eventually self destruct

 

Not a suitable safe place to situate benches or encourage people to be underneath, or climb on. Limbs are low enough that kids could have been climbing it and wonder if that was part of it. It originally said 5 injured, two seriously and one of those has since died.

 

Some council negligence there? I'm not saying it should have been felled, as I like old and questionable trees, perhaps a fence around it?

 

 

[Steven P]

The news reports said they were climbing on the tree - nothing wrong with that in itself. Kids have probably climbed on it for years.

[AHPP]

Probably foreign.