TRAIL BOARDWALK CLOSED AFTER TWO TREES FALL
(The Davison Index, October 27, 2011)
DAVISON , MI – Kat Madigan said she only had seconds to react and did what anyone would have done to save her mother – she body checked her mom to the ground and narrowly avoided serious injury.
Kat, 60, and her mother Colleen Madigan, 83, were walking their dog on the trails in the Jack Abernathy Regional park on Oct. 15 during heavy winds.
As they walked along the wooden boardwalk directly behind Collingwood Estates subdivision, they heard a loud cracking sound above them.
“I looked up and saw the tree coming down,” said Kat Madigan. “So I grabbed mom and threw her to the deck.”
The tree, both women said, slammed into the boardwalk near them, smashing the railing and punching a hole through the wooden deck of the trail.
This tree nearly struck Colleen and Kat Madigan of Davison when it fell and smashed through the boardwalk on the trail in the Jack Abernathy Regional Park.
Kat, who plays hockey on a men’s league at the Polar Palace in Lapeer, said she likened the hit she made to her mother to a body check on the ice.
“She flung me down,” said Colleen Madigan. “She saved me.”
Colleen said she suffered bruised ribs from the tackle, but was otherwise unscathed and did not require medical assistance.
She and Kat went back to their home in Davison, got their camera and went back to take pictures of the tree. They then called the Davison police and filed a report about an hour after the tree fell, which was at 2:15 p.m.
Davison Clerk Andrea Schroeder confirmed the boardwalk is closed following the collapse of two large trees that have damaged the walkway and blocked the path. Another tree fell a few weeks earlier and that too caused damage, which has not yet been repaired.
Trees have fallen previously along the same stretch of the boardwalk. City Councilman Jack Abernathy, for whom the park is named, said he and a group of volunteers often go out to perform repairs when trees fall and cause damage.
He said he hadn’t been made aware of the current damage.
Colleen and Kat both said they enjoy walking the trails, but never expected to have a close encounter with a falling tree.
“It was actually quite unbelievable,” said colleen Madigan.
[Owen Tree Service was later contracted by the City of Davison to remove several large, hazardous trees in the vicinity of the boardwalk]
CONTACT OWEN TREE AT:
● Leonard
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Genesee County, Michigan:
● Burton
● Davison
● Flushing
● Goodrich
● Linden
● Otisville
● Clio
● Fenton
● Gaines
● Grand Blanc
● Montrose
● Otter Lake
● Flint
● Genesee
● Lennon
● Mt Morris
● Swartz Creek
Lapeer County, Michigan:
● Almont
● Brown City
● Columbiaville
● Imlay City
● Metamora
● Peck
● Attica
● Clifford
● Dryden
● Lapeer
● North Branch
● Sandusky
● Hadley
● Mayville
● Otter Lake
● Silverwood
Macomb County, Michigan:
● Armada
● Clinton Twp
● Grosse Pointe
● Macomb
● New Haven
● St Clair Shores
● Centerline
● Detroit
● Grosse Pointe Farms
● Ray
● Sterling Heights
● Chesterfield
● Eastpointe
● Grosse Pointe Shores
● Memphis
● Romeo
● Utica
● Clinton
● Fraser
● Grosse Pointe Woods
● Mt Clemens
● Roseville
● Warren
● Harrison Twp
● New Baltimore
● Shelby Twp
● Washington
Oakland County, Michigan:
● Auburn Hills
● Bloomfield Village
● Ferndale
● Orion
● South Lyon
● Berkley
● Clarkston
● Franklin
● Madison Heights
● Ortonville
● Southfield
● Beverly Hills
● Clawson
● Hazel Park
● Milford
● Oxford
● Troy
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● White Lake
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● Lathrup Village
● Orchard Lake
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● Wixom
St. Clair County, Michigan:
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● Casco
● East China
● Harbor Beach
● Lexington
● Peck
● Allenton
● Clay
● Emmett
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● Sandusky
● Capac
● Cottrellville
● Goodells
● Lakeport
● North Street
● St Clair
