DOUBLE BLOW FOR KARATE INSTRUCTOR

By Sean O'Connor

A KARATE instructor suffered a double blow when her dojo was flooded and a tree crushed part of her house.

Sensei Land Fourie, 38, was clearing up flood damage at the Colchester Karate Academy at the Cowdray Centre, Colchester, when neighbours rang to tell her a tree had fallen onto her house.

The tree and flooding were caused by severe storms which struck the area, causing damage to properties and leaving 4500 homes without electricity.

Luckily the four storey tree had fallen diagonally and had destroyed both her garage and next door neighbours.

Sensei Fourie told her local newspaper: "We had been redecorating the dojo and returned to find window sills damaged and two floods.
 
"The damage is in the offices upstairs, but I was dealing with this before my next class when I got a call from a neighbour.

"The dojo is fine, so that is good news, but you do think what next?

"They said a tree had come down on my garage and lifted up their driveway. It was a eucalyptus tree four storeys high.

"When I got home and went to see the damage, luckily it had fallen diagonally and hit the garage – not the house."