85-year-old man nearly killed by collapsed tree during Utah snow squall
Jan 10, 2024, 11:06 PM | Updated: Jan 11, 2024, 10:37 am
COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — An 85-year-old man was almost seriously injured or even killed after a tree fell on him during one of Utah’s recent snow squalls.
Doug Edmunds is a self-described “superfan” of the local theater and has attended hundreds, if not thousands, of plays. On Tuesday, he unexpectedly found himself the main character in a near tragedy.
“I got some extra doughnuts from Hale Center Theatre in Orem and I was delivering them to that house, my next-door neighbor,” Edmunds said. “The wind was 60 to 70 miles an hour! Big time! Not when it first started — just all of a sudden, it hit! So I turned my back and all of a sudden one of those limbs locked me down, broke my glasses and I knew that a tree had fallen on me when I’m down there (thinking), ‘Hey what is all this?!'”
Edmunds was buried under the branches of his neighbor’s pine tree. He said he estimated the tree to have been at least 55 feet tall.
Utah’s forecast had warned against snow squalls during the week, and the tree that hit Edmunds wasn’t the only tree to collapse.
“It was nighttime. It was dark and could’ve froze to death, so it was pretty serious,” he said. “Had I been anywhere in that driveway, I would’ve been killed. When you see the limbs there and the trunk, so I probably missed death by maybe a second, two seconds, three seconds? So (I’m) one lucky character.”
Edmunds said his car was still stuck in front of the tree but wasn’t damaged, and the tree will be chopped up and hauled away on Thursday.
As for Edmunds himself?
“My shoulder is hurting a little bit, but nothing bad. It did break my glasses,” he said. “So I must’ve hit hard, but I’m in good shape for 85!”
