ABBEVILLE — An oak tree split and fell onto a house and power lines on Maude Street in Abbeville on Sunday, leaving nearby residents without power for nearly four hours.
The incident occurred despite there being no bad weather in the area. Neighbors said the tree initially split and fell onto the house on Sunday afternoon.
“When we walked down there, that’s when I noticed a tree had split in the middle, leaning over the road. So he said, ‘Well it’s going to be a matter of time before that falls,’” neighbor Kevin Starlard said.
Late Sunday night, the other side of the split tree fell onto power lines.
“So about 11 or so last night, it came crashing down.” he said.
Starlard said residents lost power for nearly four hours when the tree fell. He noted that, to his knowledge, nobody had been living in the home.
He said, “11:00 or so, I’m sitting in the house, and everything, electricity just went off. I come to the door, big cloud of light behind me. It’s a fire, and a tree had done fallen across the street."
The Abbeville Fire Department said there were no reported injuries.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.