Tree Comes Crashing Down, Knocks Out Power

A downed tree came down across some wires at the corner of East Central Avenue and Mill Street Wednesday night, knocking out power to many nearby homes. 

The roughly 40-foot tall tree, perched on the edge of a yard right at the corner, fell just before 7:30 p.m., according to  Chief Tony Green.

"I think it's just an old tree," he said. "It was time for it to go. I'm surprised more of these trees around town don't fall down."

When the tree cracked, it collapsed across East Central Avenue, blocking the entire roadway. The tree became tangled in the wires, which caused power outages within a fairly wide radius.

Joe McGovern, who lives on East Central four houses in from Chester Avenue, said he was watching a movie when he lost power. He said he felt the impact from the tree hitting the street.

Michael Weintraub lives on Mill Street, just one house down from the yard where the tree collapsed.

"I heard the crack. I thought it was lightning," he said. "You could actually feel the vibration when it hit the ground. It almost felt like lightning hit the ground."

Another neighbor, Elizabeth Lubin, who also lost power, said she was actually looking at the tree-in-question the other day and thought, "If that thing ever goes, it's going to be bad news."

The news could have been worse. There were no injuries to people or vehicles—just a damaged power line and a debris-strewn road.

Curious onlookers—most of them residents who'd lost power—wandered outside to catch a glimpse of the downed tree and hung out while firefighters kept them back from potentially "hot" wires and waited for PSEG to arrive.

Green said once the utility company cut the power and untangled the wires, the township would be by to remove the tree.

As of 9:30 p.m., Moorestown had been removed from PSEG's power outage map.