Final score: Tree +1 / Crane 0

[Contrary1]

A crew is working to remove a 100,000-pound crane that toppled onto a Santa Rosa house and smashed it in half.

No one was hurt in the Monday afternoon accident, which happened as workers were removing an unstable oak tree in the front yard.

Rich Kingsborough of Atlas Tree Surgery, which was was removing the tree, says a large section of the tree that was connected to the crane suddenly broke loose. It yanked the 131-foot boom down onto the house and vaulted the cab into the air.

It wasn't the day's first piece of bad news for Kevin and Michelle McCarthy, who had just moved in to the home in August. Michelle McCarthy says she had gotten into a car accident earlier Monday, and the couple was in Marin County dealing with the crash when they got the call about their house.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/11/17/state/n120434S96.DTL

[Duer 157099]

1. Old oak trees can be really ornery

Don't mess with mother nature eh?

[Bertha Venation]

2. Oh, my god.

[Lex]

3. The oak tree died because they killed part of its root system

with the house's foundation and then the pool they put in. It might've taken it a few years to completely die, but yeah, they killed it.

/treehugger