He was driving in the rain along Scotts Road, when a large tree fell across his car, trapping him inside. It took passers-by about 10 minutes to free him.

Less than two hours after his ordeal yesterday, Mr Arvind Ramanlal, 71, calmly stepped out of a hotel where he had taken shelter and watched his white Subaru being towed away. He smiled when asked how he was feeling.

"I was driving and all of a sudden there was a loud noise and it was dark all around me," said Mr Ramanlal, who was not injured. The tree struck the back of his car.

"I knew a tree had fallen on my car... and had crushed some parts of it," he added. The rear windscreen of his car was shattered.

Mr Ramanlal said it was raining heavily in the Orchard Road area before the incident. By the time he was in Scotts Road in his car, it had turned into a drizzle. He was travelling on the outermost lane.

The tree crashed across his car in front of Grand Hyatt Singapore around 3pm. It narrowly missed a brown Mazda, which was travelling on the innermost lane. A grey BMW, parked within the hotel compound next to the tree, was damaged when the tree uprooted and fell.

Mr Ramanlal, who is in the trading business, tried to open the driver's door and rolled down the window but was unable to get out.

By then, passers-by had already gathered to help him.

About 15 people, including staff from Grand Hyatt Singapore, helped Mr Ramanlal to get out of his car safely.

Mr Arbaa Ishak, 44, a boutique security officer, who helped to move parts of the tree away from the car, said: "I saw that the driver couldn't get out so I went over to help. We had no equipment so we just tried to move the tree's branches with our bare hands until the (authorities) came."

Mr Ramanlal then went to the hotel. His car, which was still functioning, was moved to the side of the road after the branches were cleared. It was later towed away.

Four lanes of the road were initially obstructed by the fallen tree. More than two hours later, at about 5.30pm, three lanes were opened to traffic.

National Parks Board officers used a chainsaw to cut up the tree into smaller, portable pieces, which were then taken away in a lorry at around 7pm.

The Straits Times understands that the fallen tree is a rain tree with a circumference of 2.5m to 3.5m. Typically, rain trees can grow up to 30m in height with an umbrella-shaped crown.

In 2017, a woman died after a tembusu tree fell on her at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. That tree was about 270 years old and its roots had decayed. It crashed after strong winds and heavy rainfall.

Correction note: This article has been edited for clarity.