Miracle escape as tree falls on car in Wolverhampton street

James Sutera's Vauxhall Astra was parked up in a Wolverhampton street when heavy winds sent the tree plummeting on top of it.

He had been sitting in the driver's seat at the time taking a mobile phone call when it happened.

He said he ducked when the tree came crashing down, at around 3.15pm yesterday, and managed to crawl out of the back passenger door, escaping with bruising.

All of the car's tyres were burst on impact during the incident behind the old Springfield Brewery in Grimstone Street.

The 34-year-old, of Radford Lane, Lower Penn, said : "I heard an almighty crack which was the tree snapping. It sounded like thunder.

"I ducked down in my seat.

"The tree landed on top of my car.

"If it had landed on the bonnet it would have killed me. I feel very lucky today."

Mr Sutera, who works as a tenant liason officer for Eon, added: "I was shaking like a leaf.

"Had a not ducked the branch would have gone through my head.

"I knew it was windy but never expected a tree of that size I fall."

The heavy winds and torrential rain caused chaos across the country and resulted in tragedy in Somerset.

A man died after becoming trapped in his car in flood water.

The victim's vehicle was wedged under a bridge near to a ford at Rectory Fields, in Chew Stoke, Somerset, at 8.50pm last night.

The man was found in the car and pronounced dead when emergency crews attended the scene.

Officials were still working to identify the driver and his next of kin today after another night of torrential downpours that also wreaked havoc throughout the Midlands.

Residents today spoke of their shock as they surveyed the damage left behind.

Neighbours, in Paradise Street, Dudley, had a lucky escape when a tree came crashing down into an empty house.

It missed Patricia and Brian Billingham's home by a few feet and crushed the surrounding fences.

Mrs Billingham, aged 64, said today: "I'm still shaking – it was very frightening."

She added: "It's lucky, in a way, that it hit the house that was empty otherwise things could have been a lot worse. I was panicking.

"I remember calling my daughter and saying: 'you might have to put me up tonight'. I don't want to stay here. There's a whole row of trees out there along that walkway. It's still windy, who knows what could happen?"

When they went outside they saw a big tree had fallen over near their homes.

On its way down it had crushed two fences – on either side of the walkway that runs alongside the houses.

The tree was so large that its top branches had even reached the roof of the empty house, smashing into it. Roof tiles had been shattered by the tree's branches and the rest of the tree lay stuck, barring the walkway and scattered across the back yard of the house.

The tree had missed their house by only metres.

A teenage girl suffered serious head injuries in High Street, Wollaston, near Stourbridge, at around 3.50pm yesterday. A second girl had a shoulder injury.

Wollaston resident, Fred Davies, aged 67, said he heard ambulances tearing along the road and initially feared a car crash had happened. "The weather had got worse all afternoon but it is terrible to think that something like this could have happened," said the retired civil servant.

Meanwhile the heavy rains caused flooding to one of the Black Country's highest points.

A section of the 11th century Dudley Castle's courtyard remained under water for most of the day.

The attraction's chief executive Peter Suddock said: "The rains were particularly heavy late morning and flash flooding cut off a section of the courtyard where staff were working on Santa's Grotto, creating a small lake."