Residents were given a rude awakening when a tree came crashing down, crushing a car and damaging a house.

People living in a cul-de-sac in Walmer, Deal, looked out of their windows to see a massive beech had fallen to the ground last night.

Stella Twomey told KentOnline she was woken up in the early hours of this morning after council workers were called to cut up the fallen tree.

"Fortunately, most of us were asleep when it came down as it must have been around 11.30pm or midnight," she explained.

"I was woken up at around 3am to the council cutting it up to clear the road."

The toppled hardwood caused chaos on its way down, mangling the back of a car and damaging the roof of a building across the road.

Thankfully, the damage to the house was minor, with some tiles and guttering broken at the corner of the roof.

The same could not be said for the Fiat Punto, however, the back of which has been completely crushed by the tree.

"You can see just how large it was by how far it reached when it came down, not to mention the damage it did to the car," Ms Twomey added.

"The council workers were here until 7.30am chopping it up, such was the size of it – and there is still a big lump of it left now.

"It's extremely fortunate that it came down at the time of night that it did. If anyone had been nearby at the time, it could well have killed them."