When the bough breaks

A 19-year-old woman suffered minor injuries Tuesday night at Sonoma Plaza after an elm tree dropped a 40-foot branch on her head.
“It’s the third branch that’s fallen in the last 30 days,” City Manager Linda Kelly said yesterday. “We’ve cordoned off the area because we’re trying to keep people away from the tree – and from traveling under the tree.”
Mark Freeman, a division chief with the Sonoma Valley Fire and Rescue Authority, said medics took the woman to Sonoma Valley Hospital shortly after the 9:30 p.m. incident, where she was treated and released.
The elm shades two picnic tables on the Plaza’s north, or Spain Street, side. A bushy 20-foot bough from the same tree dropped on a German tourist July 14 in a leafy embrace which caused more surprise than injury.
City parks worker Terry Melberg said the tree’s canopy was pruned Wednesday – a move which was in the works before Tuesday night’s incident.
“We had already set up with a tree service and an arborist on site,” Melberg said yesterday. “What happens when we have the hot weather, the trees draw up a lot of moisture and that increases the weight of the limbs.”
“We’re still evaluating it right now at the moment,” he added. “It’s actually a fairly healthy tree.”
Kelly said the arborist’s report is expected sometime today.
“Obviously, we’re extremely concerned about public safety,” she said. “In the meantime, we’re not taking any chances.”