A ST George Bank employee was hospitalised after being hit by a falling tree in Montgomery Street, Kogarah, on Friday afternoon.
Lynne Stares was on a lunch break and was crossing the road to return to work at about 2.15pm when the accident happened.
Strong gusts of wind which blew into Sydney during Friday's heatwave caused the tree — near sections of the footpath being repaired — to fall across the road.
It is believed the trees roots had been cut by Kogarah Council workers with the intention of removing the tree at a later time.
The fall was observed and photographed by a number of people having lunch in nearby cafes — and by a driver who tried to warn Mrs Stares.
Ali Mourad, 25, an excavator, was driving down Montgomery Street with his builder friend Mohamed Talib, 26, when they saw Mrs Stares about to cross the road.
Mr Mourad said he was about 10 seconds from the where they tree fell in front of his car.
He beeped his horn to alert Mrs Stares, but she didn't appear to hear and kept walking.
Mr Talib said he had a senior certificate in first aid and went to help.
She was taken to St George Hospital by ambulance and was in a stable condition on Friday afternoon.
Mrs Stares' daughter Lauren said her mother had undergone a number of tests and was released from hospital about 10pm Friday.
She suffered a graze at the back of her head, a neck injury and bruising to her back and chest.
"She will need to go back to the doctor," Lauren said.
She said Mr Mourad had visited her mother in hospital.
A nearby business owner had been observing the council's pavement works along that stretch of Montgomery Street. He said the roots on that particular tree had been cut on Thursday to make way for the pavers and he understood the tree was to be removed Friday after business hours.
"But the wind got there first," he said.
Within 45 minutes of the accident, workers were on the scene cutting up branches and clearing the street. Traffic began to flow again soon afterwards.
Workers were back at the scene at 4pm to remove another nearby tree.
A small sign on the remains of the tree said the council appreciated residents might be concerned about the loss of the trees. They had been assessed and were deemed to be in good health but structurally unsound.
A Kogarah Council spokeswoman said the pedestrian footpath was being upgraded to enable the provision of a new footpath.
"The tree that fell was to be removed in conjunction with these works," she said.
"The tree fell during strong winds on late Friday afternoon. Council staff responded immediately by removing the tree to ensure that disruption to traffic was minimised."
