Nineteen people were injured Sunday when a large tree fell onto a garage in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, fire officials said.
The Anne Arundel County Fire Department tweeted that 20 people were inside a detached garage on Dunn Road in Pasadena when it collapsed under the weight of the tree.
Medics took 17 adults and two children to area hospitals. One person had critical injuries, five were seriously hurt and 13 had minor injuries, the fire department said.
"They were gathered for a child's birthday party. When the storm came through the area they went into the garage to seek shelter and that's when the tree fell on the garage," Anne Arundel County Fire Department spokesman Russ Davies told local media outlets. "This was a detached garage between two homes."
Photos from the scene showed a large tree laying across what remained of the splintered garage.
Davies said first responders rushed to the area after the first 911 calls Sunday afternoon and found six people still trapped in the garage amid the debris. He said three of those people were quickly freed and the last three were extricated soon after. All were taken out within 45 minutes.
"It was a very brief storm. It came through very quickly," Davies said. He added that the neighborhood is in a wooded area and rescuers had to work around broken bits of the fallen tree and the remains of the garage.
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Authorities did not immediately identify the victims or elaborate on their conditions, including those of the two children.
Other trees were down in the area after the storm, along with electric lines, authorities said, causing power outages.
As a precaution, Davies said, firefighters and others searched the shattered garage after everyone was out and determined no one else was left in the debris. None of the first responders was hurt.
