Redbank Plains woman escapes falling tree by seconds

A woman’s shopping trip nearly ended in tragedy after she and her passengers were almost crushed by a tree that was blown over in gale-force winds.

A Redbank Plains woman says she is lucky to be alive after a huge tree was blown over in front of her car in Brookwater while she was out shopping.

South East Queensland is currently being battered by damaging winds that have brought down power lines and trees, and left thousands of homes without power.

Candace Warburton, 40, said the Tournament Drive incident was a “very close call”.

“We were driving and it fell down in front of us,” Ms Warburton said.

The fallen tree on Tournament Drive.

Her daughter, a friend and her four children were in the car at the time.

“We were coming from Bunnings heading towards the Redbank Plaza to do more shopping,” she said.

“If we were any later, the tree would have fallen on our car.”

Candace Warburton (middle).

Ms Warburton said her daughter and the friend were badly shaken by the near miss.

“I called triple-0 immediately and that’s when the police arrived,” she said.

Ipswich City Council confirmed the tree blocked inbound traffic on Tournament Dr this morning.

A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokesman said they had received 33 calls for help across the southeast as a result of the wind since 7am.

The Bureau of Meteorology tweeted that a severe weather warning for damaging winds continued for the region, but conditions were expected to ease Wednesday.