Fallen trees close Charlotte preschool, area roads

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Recent thunderstorms in the Charlotte area caused trees to fall and blocked major roads Thursday morning.

PHOTOS: Tree on power lines at Charlottetowne and 7th Street

A fallen tree shut down East 7th Street between Charlottetowne Avenue and Hawthorne Lane and caused damage to nearby buildings.

Smarty Pants Preschool in the 1400 block of East 7th Street will be closed for two days after two trees hit the building.

https://twitter.com/braywsoc9/status/634372766230290432

The trees took out a cable line and damaged the top of the building. No one was hurt and the building still has power.

Police said that around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, a tree limb fell and crashed into the roof. It also hit another tree, knocking it into the playground area.

Officials said the limb weighed several hundred pounds and if people had been inside, they would most certainly have been injured.

PHOTOS: Tree falls on daycare on 7th Street

City officials removed debris from the roadway Thursday morning and a private company started removing the tree from the daycare.

They told Channel 9 a portion of the tree had decayed.

"The water that gets on the tree makes everything heavier and it couldn't take the stress anymore,” said Rondel Guffey, the vice president of Treescape.

Part of the tree stretches across the road but the workers said they can’t cut it down until they get permission from the owner of the tree, who they have not yet tracked down.

Another tree fell and blocked Commonwealth Avenue Thursday morning.