THREE people and their dogs had a lucky escape on Saturday afternoon when a tree collapsed on their car in Tilford Road.

Storm Katie wreaked havoc across The Herald area over the Easter weekend, prompting a succession of severe weather warnings, flood alerts, power cuts, and road closures due to fallen trees.

But by far the closest shave came when strong winds brought down a large beech tree at around 3pm on Saturday, landing on top of a passing Mercedes and blocking Tilford Road near the junction with Greenhill Road.

The collision crippled the rear end of the car but incredibly the occupants - two women, a man and two dogs in the back - escaped unscathed.

James Hurrell, whose two aunts and uncle survived the crash, said: “They were just driving to my father in law’s house when they got hit from nowhere. Everyone in the car is OK. Bit shaken but not hurt.”

The tree and car was removed and Tilford Road re-opened by Monday morning.

A large pine tree also collapsed on the A287 between Churt and Frensham on Sunday morning, while winds of up to 70mph brought another large tree down in Crondall Lane. And the danger of falling trees prompted the Forestry Commission to close the gates of Alice Holt Forest on Sunday.

For most people any damage was limited to fence panels, greenhouses, garden furniture, planters and roof tiles. But a brief power cut shortly before 8am on Easter Sunday set off burglar alarms in the town centre and reportedly affected some homes near Farnham Hospital.

A flood alert was also issued by the Environment Agency for the Upper River Wey including Alton, Farnham, Bordon, Frensham and Tilford on Saturday night, and this was repeated on Tuesday as river levels continued to rise.

However, homes were not threatened and flooding was limited to low-lying land and roads.