Watch the shocking moment a tree, power line fall in front of moving car during Louisiana storm
"Literally, I saw tree, electricity, boom!" Andy Daray said. "The electricity you see is the power lines arcing to the ground down the tree."
Tree, power line fall on Louisiana man's car during severe storms, dashcam shows
A Covington, Louisiana, man was injured last Sunday after a tree and power line fell on his car. His dashcam captured the terrifying event.
COVINGTON, La. – Andy Daray should be getting an oil change this weekend. Instead, he's shopping for a new vehicle after a terrifying moment with nature.
The Walker, Louisiana, man drove about an hour east on Sunday afternoon to Covington to buy a fish tank. He had strapped it to an open trailer attached to his 2023 Toyota 4Runner that had just hit 5,000 miles.
"Nice, pretty day other than very hot, when I left the house about noon," he told FOX Weather. "About the time I arrived at their house, dark clouds had been forming to the north."
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As he finished loading the tank and stand, Daray wrapped it with a tarp right as it started drizzling. As he made it out of the neighborhood, the skies turned dark, rain started coming down like crazy with winds blowing wild.
Pine cones and small branches were pelting the road, Daray remembers. Yet nothing would prepare him for what followed next and captured on video.
"The dashcam has a wider view than I did," he said. "I didn’t see the top of the tree until half a second before impact."
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![Tree, power line fall on Louisiana man's car during severe storms, dashcam shows]()
Image 1 of 8A dashcam video from Andy Daray's 2023 4Runner captured a terrifying event as severe storms rolled through the area on July 16, 2023. It happened about 2 p.m. on Lowe Davis Road in Covington, Louisiana. (Andy Daray)
![Tree, power line fall on Louisiana man's car during severe storms, dashcam shows]()
Image 2 of 8A dashcam video from Andy Daray's 2023 4Runner captured a terrifying event as severe storms rolled through the area on July 16, 2023. It happened about 2 p.m. on Lowe Davis Road in Covington, Louisiana. (Andy Daray)
![Tree, power line fall on Louisiana man's car during severe storms, dashcam shows]()
Image 3 of 8A dashcam video from Andy Daray's 2023 4Runner captured a terrifying event as severe storms rolled through the area on July 16, 2023. It happened about 2 p.m. on Lowe Davis Road in Covington, Louisiana. (Andy Daray)
![Tree, power line fall on Louisiana man's car during severe storms, dashcam shows]()
Image 4 of 8A dashcam video from Andy Daray's 2023 4Runner captured a terrifying event as severe storms rolled through the area on July 16, 2023. It happened about 2 p.m. on Lowe Davis Road in Covington, Louisiana. (Andy Daray)
![Tree, power line fall on Louisiana man's car during severe storms, dashcam shows]()
Image 5 of 8A dashcam video from Andy Daray's 2023 4Runner captured a terrifying event as severe storms rolled through the area on July 16, 2023. It happened about 2 p.m. on Lowe Davis Road in Covington, Louisiana. (Andy Daray)
![Tree, power line fall on Louisiana man's car during severe storms, dashcam shows]()
Image 6 of 8A dashcam video from Andy Daray's 2023 4Runner captured a terrifying event as severe storms rolled through the area on July 16, 2023. It happened about 2 p.m. on Lowe Davis Road in Covington, Louisiana. (Andy Daray)
![Tree, power line fall on Louisiana man's car during severe storms, dashcam shows]()
Image 7 of 8A dashcam video from Andy Daray's 2023 4Runner captured a terrifying event as severe storms rolled through the area on July 16, 2023. It happened about 2 p.m. on Lowe Davis Road in Covington, Louisiana. (Andy Daray)
![Tree, power line fall on Louisiana man's car during severe storms, dashcam shows]()
Image 8 of 8A dashcam video from Andy Daray's 2023 4Runner captured a terrifying event as severe storms rolled through the area on July 16, 2023. It happened about 2 p.m. on Lowe Davis Road in Covington, Louisiana. (Andy Daray)
Daray believes a tree got tangled in some power lines and fell. When he struck the tree, the force swung the tree upward, where it cleared the rest of his SUV and trailer before crashing down in the road.
"Literally, I saw tree, electricity, boom!" Daray said. "The electricity you see is the power lines arcing to the ground down the tree."
The first officer who responded the scene told Daray he had called EMS and fire crews because he thought he had come up on a fatality or something serious.
Daray said that if it had been a second later, the story may have had a very different outcome.