WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — June 6, 2024, is a day the Avera family will never forget.
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A mother and her two children were driving down Reams Road in Winter Garden during a storm when a falling tree crushed their car.
In the 911 call made by the woman, you can tell they were shocked.
Dispatch: Was the tree from an accident or did it just fall?
Mom: It, it fell. It’s thundering and lightning and the tree fell down…on the road
Fourteen-year-old Kayden Avera was in a passenger seat and stuck underneath that tree, and the teen was severely injured.
Her mom told dispatch, “The tree fell on my car and knocked me out.”
The firefighters responded but could not save her.
A tribute to the beloved Windermere High School student on GoFundMe showed an outpouring of support.
Those close to her wrote, “Kayden brought so much love and joy into the lives of all that knew her, and she will be deeply missed.”
But after the incident, we looked into what happened, and county records show that a lieutenant at the station told the county that a couple of pine trees needed to be removed in April.
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He said one was tall and branches were starting to fall off.
According to the documents, public works removed the pine trees on June 16, 10 days after a pine tree had already fallen on the Avera’s car.
Channel 9 asked the county about that process and what took so long to remove the trees, but we have not heard back so far.
We did contact Kayden’s family to see if they knew about the firefighters’ request to the county, but they said they could not comment due to pending litigation.
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