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Winds knock tree onto car, destroying it

Posted at 6:02 PM, Jan 15, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-15 18:02:47-05

This afternoon's rainstorms swept through Palm Beach County quickly, but they made their mark.

Just ask Patricia Caputo. She was visiting a friend at Century Village in West Palm Beach when a tree fell on her car.

It was about 2:30 p.m. and Caputo says it looked like a hurricane outside: strong winds and a heavy downpour. She was preparing to leave the apartment when she heard her car alarm gong off.

"I opened the door, I looked out and I wasn't sure what I was looking at. Then when I saw the tree, I was like my car, my car! it's paid for! Then my heart started to beat faster," she explains.

Her 5-year-old Hyundai was crushed under a tree. Winds were so strong, the tree and the car didn't stand a chance. The roof collapsed, the windshield is shattered, the hood is dented into the engine.

No one was hurt and Caputo says the car can be replaced.

"I'm grateful that I didn't go in the car when I planned to because I wouldn't be here talking to you now. God works in mysterious ways," she says.

A maintenance company cut some of the branches off the car, but most of the tree remained on top of the car Friday evening.