Tree crashes through Botanic Gardens, stopping traffic at Dean Street, Wodonga Place

A worker on the site said he understood a freak gust of wind had toppled the tree, but a tree expert who was in the gardens at the time the tree fell said "it was bound to happen" with wind or not.

Friends of the Albury Botanic Gardens president Chiara Cass said the waterlogged ground from heavy rains and the fact that the elms were "at the end of their life" would have been factors in the plant being uprooted.

"It's quite dangerous, thank goodness no one was injured," Mrs Cass said. "The council is quite right to want to remove the elms because they are diseased - this was bound to happen."

Many nearby residents said they heard nothing, but Wodonga woman Amy Guest did as she saw the tree fall at about 1.30pm when she was turning left off Dean Street after dropping her children off in the CBD.

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"I'm still shaking - I'm just so glad no one was under the tree - it didn't make a huge noise when it came down, it sort of happened in slow motion," she said.

Managers at the Albury Regent Motel and cafe Mr Benedict said they had no idea the tree had fallen until patrons told them of the incident.

One policeman attended the scene to supervise traffic flow on the south-bound lane of Wodonga Place.

In March, plans were announced to fell an avenue of elm trees under a revamp of the iconic gardens.

The changes were in a draft master plan which was put out for public feedback after being endorsed by Albury Council.

Mrs Cass said Sunday's incident would support the council's stance to remove the English elms from the avenue and replace them with ginkgo trees that were more suitable for Albury's climate.

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