PASADENA, Md. (AP) — A large tree toppled onto a detached garage in a Maryland neighborhood where people attending a child’s birthday party sought shelter from a storm, trapping several people inside and sending more than 20 people to hospitals Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
The Anne Arundel County Fire Department said one adult was critically injured but is expected to survive, and six other people had serious injuries. Another 14 people had minor injuries, according to authorities.
The people had gathered for a child’s birthday party in the 8300 block of Dunn Road in Pasadena, Maryland, the fire department said.
“When the storm came through the area they went into the garage to seek shelter and that’s when the tree fell on the garage,” fire department spokesman Russ Davies told local media outlets. “This was a detached garage between two homes.”
Two children were injured in the collapse. Overall, the ages of the people injured ranged from 2 years old to 78.
Photos from the scene showed a large tree laying across what remained of the splintered garage.
Structural Collapse | #Pasadena | 8300 blk Dunn Road | large tree fell on a detached garage occupied by 20+ people | 6 trapped on arrival | all extricated within 45 minutes pic.twitter.com/jZQgqtcl4O
— Anne Arundel County Fire Department (@AACoFD) July 5, 2020
Davies said first responders rushed to the area after the first 911 calls Sunday afternoon and found six people still trapped in the garage amid the debris. He said three of those people were quickly freed and the last three were extricated soon after. All were taken out within 45 minutes.
“It was a very brief storm. It came through very quickly,” Davies said. He added that the neighborhood is in a wooded area and rescuers had to work around broken bits of the fallen tree and the remains of the garage.
Other trees were down in the area after the storm, along with electric lines, authorities said, causing power outages.
As a precaution, Davies said, firefighters and others searched the shattered garage after everyone was out and determined no one else was left in the debris. None of the first responders was hurt.
Pasadena is a community about 20 miles southeast of Baltimore.
WTOP’s Jack Moore contributed to this report.
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