"It was pretty scary:" Driver slams into downed tree on South 60th Street after storms



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Storms rolled across southeastern Wisconsin on Monday evening and Monday night, June 30th -- and left in their wake downed trees and power lines. The storms left thousands of people without power. As of 8:00 p.m. Monday, We Energies officials said 90,000 customers were in the dark.

"The storms started and then I looked out the window to see what was going on," Andy Pedersen said.

Just after 6:00 p.m., storms rolled in from the west and reached Milwaukee County.

"I saw the tree leaning and leaning -- and it just went down," Pedersen said.

The tree that was rooted between the sidewalk and South 60th Street in front of Pedersen's house had just fallen across the street -- blocking both southbound lanes.

"We got on the phone and called 911 -- and tried stopping traffic coming down 60th Street," Pedersen said.

Despite his efforts to warn people, he couldn't stop one woman driving a silver Lexus.

"Right as we were walking away, the car went right into the tree," Pedersen said.

Pedersen jumped in to help.

"We tried breaking tree branches to see if we could get the door open," Pedersen said.

The woman driving the car was able to get out safely. She wasn't injured.

"As soon as we found out she was okay, then it was time to relax and take a breath," Pedersen said.

Just to the north, also along South 60th Street, power was out from National Avenue to Lincoln -- creating problems in numerous intersections where traffic signals weren't working.

At Pedersen's house, power wasn't the issue. Instead, it was his nerves.

"It was pretty scary. On a scale of 1 to 10 it was probably an 8 or a 9," Pedersen said.