Falling tree kills Tahoe City driver near Squaw

The first fatality of the wicked storms that have thrashed the Lake Tahoe area occurred Thursday night.

A 43-year-old Tahoe City woman was killed when a tree fell onto the Subaru she was driving. She was headed south on Highway 89 near Squaw Valley at about 6:30pm Jan. 12. No one else was in the vehicle.

The tree struck two vehicles; the first was a Cadillac Escalade — no one was injured, the second was the Subaru.

Not long after the first tree fell another one tumbled onto a Tesla. The driver was standing outside the vehicle and was not hurt.

All the vehicles were headed south, and were just north of Squaw, in traffic that was crawling.

The highway between Squaw and Truckee reopened about 8:50pm. “We need to make sure the hill is stable,” CHP Officer Peter Mann told Lake Tahoe News.

This was the third tree to fall in this area in 36 hours. The one on Wednesday was about 100-feet tall and closed the roadway for about an hour.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report