Parents of five children die after redwood tree falls on car during holiday

Family friend says offspring will have ‘lifetime of expenses’ as ‘their lives will forever be changed’

The parents of five children died last week after a redwood tree fell on top of their car while driving to California for a holiday.

Jessica and Jake Woodruff were travelling to the coast in Northern California from their home in the small town of Yreka last Thursday to celebrate Ms Woodruff’s 45th birthday when the incident occurred.

The couple were driving near to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park during the trip when a 175-foot-tall redwood tree fell on their car, killing them both when it completely flattened the vehicle’s roof. Their children were not in the car and did not travel with them on Thursday.

“This was a shocking and unexpected event, and the tragedy of this accident makes it difficult to accept as real,” family friend Amanda Maffei wrote on a GoFundMe page set up to support the Woodruff’s five children.

“We are asking that anyone who can support them, please do so, as these children are facing the devastating reality of what was just ripped from their lives in a split second,” the family friend said.

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“Those of you who know this family, know how tight-knit they are, and their lives will forever be changed.”

California Highway Patrol are investigating the incident in an effort to establish what caused the tree to fall last week, with officer Brandy Gonzalez telling SFGate that “the timing of everything was very, very unusual”.

“We have trees everywhere. It’s in the middle of the redwoods. It’s just old growth and we have no idea why the tree fell. It was Mother Nature,” the officer said.

“I’ve been on the department for 19 years and I’ve been in this area 12 to 13 years and it’s very unusual. We’ve had trees fall down and cars make contact, but this kind of incident is very unusual”

The GoFundMe campaign for the couple’s five children, Megan, Evan, Casey, Allie, and Chelsea, had raised $144,027 (£104,656) by Tuesday morning.

“There is no getting around the devastation and trauma the loss of Jessica and Jake has brought, and as we can all imagine, there is a long road ahead, especially for the children who have been left behind,” Ms Maffei wrote on the fundraiser page.

She added that the campaign was necessary as the five children are now facing “a lifetime of expenses” following the death of their parents.