2 injured after wind causes tree to come crashing down on vendors at Delta College flea market
STOCKTON – Two people were injured after a tree toppled in the intense winds during a flea market at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton on Sunday.
The tree came crashing down in the parking lot of the college where vendors were set up.
"I heard the crack, and I thought it was someone's shade tent that blew away and then I heard commotion of people just started running," said Michele West who witnessed the tree falling.
West saw the aftermath of the tree that was uprooted from its planter and sprawled across the parking lot.
"When I went over there, there was an elderly man and he was laying on the ground and I could tell he was in a lot of pain," West said.
The college's police department said one of the people who was injured was suffering back pain, but there was no word on the extent of the other person who was injured.
"It was scary," West said. "I mean it could have fallen on a child or it could have fallen on anyone."
It was a busy Sunday morning with families and children bustling around the market on a blustery day with wind speeds reaching close to 35 mph in Stockton. People told CBS that some of the vendor's canopies were lifted into the air.
The tree that fell appeared to be one of the only in the lot without leaves.
"I mean you could tell, I hate to say, but that tree was really dead," said West.
Delta College said it is working with an arborist to regularly conduct tree inventory and maintenance when needed and it will be doing this work ahead of the stormy season to keep people safe.
The campus police said trees do occasionally fall on campus after heavy rain and winds, but it's not very common.
"I kind of wanted to warn the other vendors who were away from there and who may not have known what had happened, be careful of the trees," said West.
The toppled tree had West wondering if more trees will come crashing down as we enter the winter months.
"Even the rest of the day as we were walking through there, I kept looking up at the trees to make sure nothing else was going to fall," West said.