Grey nomads and other campers are being warned about the dangers of falling trees and tree limbs after recent frightening incidents.
In Townsville, a couple staying at the Bluewater Caravan Park were rushed to hospital after a tree fell on their caravan during the night.
Rescue crews spent several hours working to free the couple. The man is thought to have  suffered severe injuries to this arm, while a woman has hip injuries. Both are in Townsville Hospital in a stable condition.
Earlier this month, a toddler had to undergo surgery after a falling tree branch crushed his leg while he was at a park in the Adelaide Hills.
South Australian SES public relations manager Jon Carr said the public had to be cautious around trees, especially in high winds.
We’re advising people not to camp underneath them, or shelter underneath them or park their cars underneath them,” he told the Adelaide Advertiser. “What’s happened is they (trees) got stressed in the heat – it can apply to young and old trees.”
Trees can drop limbs, or entire trees can fall, without warning and there is no way of determining when a tree might fall or drop a limb.
Trees may be particularly prone to dropping a limb or falling when they are under stress. This stress may include: high wind; extreme temperatures or sudden changes in temperature; drought; fire; compaction; and flood.
Experts at Parks Victoria say that when a tree falls there is no way of predicting which way it will fall so it is important to stay clear of trees in all directions. They say a limb falling from a tree often does not fall straight down. The limbs may bounce against other limbs and swing out well beyond the drip line (the edge of the canopy) of the tree.
Do you ever camp under trees? Have you ever had a tree or a tree limb fall near your camp? Comment below.
Not only in high winds… Those bloody limbs can drop at any time…
I met an older couple who had been travelling together for several years because a limb crushed her caravan and as a temporary measure she moved in with him….
Last time I saw them they were both happy together
That’s what I call fate, do hope they have many more happy years together
There is a reason they are called widow makers
We had a tall gum tree fall on our camper trailer while we were asleep. We thought we were a safe distance away as we have always been aware of trees when camping. There was no wind or rain, a very calm night. The tree split at the base and fell right down the middle, we had to be cut out but were not hurt badly, it obviously was not our time. However our $30K camper was a write off.
We live on a ten acre property with lots of gum trees and we have noticed that they sometimes fall two or three days after rain, dead calm, deadly quiet and then the sound of a crashing tree. We never park under gum trees, they are too unpredictable.
That is exactly the way a huge red gum branch came down at our camp on the river Murray last week.. After a rain event , just 2days later the huge limb possibly weighing 10tonne dropped in the still of the early morning and missed a tent by less than a metre and that tent was located 27 m from the base of the tree. A very significant wake up call to locate 1.5 times the height of any red gum to stay safe !!!
We stayed in Mitcham Adelaide earlier this month and a tree fell on a caravan there. We were also under trees but were lucky..
Actually the accident did not happen at the Bluewater Caravan Park but in the free camping area on the northern side of Bluewater Creek, and Not in the Caravan Park…