Another massive banyan tree crashes down onto busy Hong Kong street as city braces for week of heavy rain
A 10-metre high Banyan tree fell about 15 metres onto Pok Fu Lam Road, disrupting traffic outside Hong Kong University MTR station.
Banyan trees that grow out of stone walls require urgent enhanced inspections to make sure they are doing well, tree and geological experts say after the collapse of a six-metre tree onto a busy highway outside the University of Hong Kong yesterday.
No one was injured when the tree crashed down 15 metres onto the four-lane Pok Fu Lam Road at lunchtime.
Tree maintenance has come into sharper focus recently. At least four trees fell over on August 10 following a night of heavy rain, after two cases in three days last month injured three people in Central and Sai Ying Pun.
Only 12 months ago, a banyan on a private slope collapsed, killing a pregnant woman.
Matthew Pryor, head of landscape architecture at HKU, expressed concern about the number of fallen trees in recent months, particularly those attached to walls, and called for "special attention" to them.