Falling branch kills motorist in Morris Township; fourth tree-related fatality in Greater Morristown since 2018

For the fourth time since 2018, a falling tree has caused a death in Greater Morristown.

The latest victim was driving eastbound on Mendham Road in Morris Township on Wednesday when a branch struck her Nissan Murano and another vehicle.

She was pronounced dead at Morristown Medical Center after the 7:34 a.m. incident, said Morris Township Police Capt. Robert Shearer.

He declined to release information about the deceased because the investigation is ongoing.

A woman who had been heading west in a Mercedes SUV sustained minor injuries, Shearer said. Neither vehicle had passengers.

The accident occurred near 178 Mendham Road, Shearer said. Morris County is drying out from heavy rains dumped by a nor-easter this week. It’s not clear whether the storm was a factor in this tragedy.

Recent storms have been deadly in Greater Morristown.

Last November, 33-year-old Jessica Veliz was walking her dog along Fairmount Avenue, near Burnham Park in Morris Township, on a stormy day when she was fatally struck. Veliz was an avid horseback rider and volunteer with the Woman’s Club of Morristown.

In August 2020, a tree company employee, Jody Terwilliger, 58, was killed by a falling limb near Craig Road and Sussex Avenue in Morris Township, during the cleanup after Tropical Storm Isaias.

Tanya Blaine, 57, of Roselle, died a few days after a tree crushed her Nissan Sentra on Ford Avenue in Morristown after a thunderstorm in June 2018.  A passenger also was hospitalized.

There have been close calls, too.  A teenaged driver miraculously emerged unscathed after a storm toppled an enormous tree onto his family’s Toyota Tacoma, outside St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on South Street in Morristown in August 2018.

A number of homes have been hit by falling trees as well.