Another Ficus Falls, Crushes Lyft Driver's Prius In San Francisco's Marina
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Friday morning's rains toppled yet another problematic ficus tree, this time on top of a Lyft driver's car in the Marina District.
Firefighters and public works crews made quick work of the three-story tall ficus tree, which ripped out of the ground in the rain, crushing the female Lyft driver's Toyota Prius. Fortunately she wasn't inside of it.
The car was parked when Ola Joudh heard the tree come crashing down outside his corner market at Lombard and Buchanan.
"I heard the loud noise [makes crushing sound]. I thought it was an accident at first, but when I came out, I saw the big tree fell down on the car, on the street and caused a lot of traffic," Joudh said.
The woman who owns the car was not driving for Lyft at the time of the accident, but she was in tears, when she saw the back half of her parked Prius completely destroyed.
Joudh said he was worried about the tree since ficuses have been falling all around the city during this season's rains.
"I called 511 about two weeks ago to come down and trim it. They put it down on their schedule and said someone was going to come down and assist it," he said.
The city didn't get to this ficus in time, but has been systematically removing the troublesome trees and will no longer approve the planting of ficuses as street trees.