A HUGE pine tree that fell into a residential road took nearly four hours to partially clear after it narrowly missed several houses.

The massive pine fell at around 6am in Cornelia Crescent, Poole, landing in the middle of a dead end road surrounded by homes.

Resident Michelle Donnelly-Gwynn and her husband slept through the incident, but said they felt incredibly lucky that the tree had fallen where it did.

They said: “If it had landed on the house it would have been a different story so we’re quite lucky.

Bournemouth Echo: Tree collapses in Cornelia Crescent, Poole.Tree collapses in Cornelia Crescent, Poole.

“Apparently there was a fungus on the side of the tree which they think made it rotten and so it went over. That just shows you because it looked perfectly healthy before."

Michelle looked out the window at 7am to see the tree, usually rooted next to her driveway, collapsed in the road. They rang the council who responded “very quickly” in sending tree surgeons to the scene.

The council tree service took close to four hours to clear the area, leaving just after 11.30am with the remnants of the massive tree trunk on the back of their vehicle.

They added: “Thank god it didn’t land on a house or car. It was a northerly wind which was lucky because if it had gone in any other direction it would have landed on one of these houses."

They also said how fortunate it was to have happened on a weekend instead of a school day, due to the numbers of parked cars and children in the vicinity at that time.

It is understood the remaining debris will be cleared by a returning crew on Tuesday.