SINGAPORE - One person was taken to hospital after a large tree fell across Tiong Bahru Road on Friday evening.

The upended tree near Block 7 cut off the four-lane, two-way road, and damaged a sheltered walkway and a car.

From photos circulating in Telegram groups, its roots looked to be several metres long. 

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received a call for assistance along Tiong Bahru Road at about 5.35pm.

Police and SCDF officers were seen at the scene, with at least one ambulance on site.

In another photo circulating in online chat groups, there were at least five buses lined up along the road, which is near Tiong Bahru Market.

SBS Transit said in a Twitter post at 6.05pm that services 5, 16, 33, 33A, 63, 851, 122, 123, 123M, 195 and 195A have been diverted from Tiong Bahru Road, with five bus stops skipped due to the incident.

At 7.53pm, the transport operator said the same buses would skip an additional six bus stops.

Tiong Bahru resident Peter Hoskins told The Straits Times that at least 20 people crowded around one side of the fallen tree.

He added that police officers told him and other bystanders to move away from the damaged covered walkway as it might not be safe to stand under it.

He also observed workers chopping the fallen tree and towing away parts of it with a lorry crane.

The 55-year-old, who lives about 300m away from the place where the tree fell, said he had heard a noise, but assumed it was due to construction work.

He later learnt about the fallen tree from a residents’ Facebook group.

A video taken by Mr Hoskins near the fallen tree showed a black Mercedes with the roof above the rear passenger seats crumpled inwards.

Mr Hoskins said: “If the ground is that wet now and there are a lot of these big trees, I will think twice before I walk under one in the coming days.

“Seeing what it did to that car, I wouldn’t want that on my head.”

MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC Indranee Rajah said in a Facebook post on Friday night that the tree was cleared at 9.50pm and the roads were open again. Meanwhile, repair work to the damaged linkway continued.

The agencies will be checking the other trees in the area on Saturday as a precautionary measure, she added.

The HDB said it is investigating the cause of the incident.