Woman dies after storm caused tree to fall on her on Aspen Hill hiking trail

Dozens of trees, wires were downed following severe thunderstorms Thursday night with more forecasted for Friday

By

June 12, 2026 11:27 a.m.

Share

A woman died after a tree fell on her while she was on the Matthew Henson Trail in Aspen Hill during a severe storm on Thursday evening, according to Montgomery County Park Police spokesperson Capt. Tracy Lieberman.

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) spokesperson Pete Piringer said on social media Thursday night that a passerby on the trail reported to 911 that there was a person pinned under a fallen tree.

The incident occurred on the trail near 3400 Hewitt Ave. off Georgia Avenue, according to Piringer.

MCFRS crews responded to the incident around 9 p.m. and found the woman on the trail with “traumatic and life-threatening” injuries, according to Piringer.

- Advertisement -

More details about the death will be released to the public later Friday, Lieberman said.

The severe storm on Thursday evening caused dozens of trees to fall and reports of downed wires, Piringer said in a social media post. Reports came from all over the county in Rockville, Silver Spring, Montgomery Hills, Kensington, Bethesda, Aspen Hill and Chevy Chase.

A tree that fell in the 500 block of Silver Spring Avenue in a residential neighborhood that borders downtown Silver Spring caused electrical wires to fall on vehicles in the roadway, which then ignited a vehicle fire, according to Piringer.

The vehicle fire was eventually extinguished by MCFRS fire crews. A video of the burnt-out car can be seen steaming in the rain in a video from 7News.

Piringer also reported that multiple trees fell in Dickerson in the 2600 block of Whites Ferry Road between Trundle and Martinsburg roads. He said the fallen trees also downed wires and completely blocked Whites Ferry Road.

Piringer did not respond to Bethesda Today’s phone call request for comment Friday morning for more details about storm impacts.

As of 9:30 a.m., 181 customers in the county were experiencing electricity outages, according to Pepco. A webpage with a map of outages and details on how to report an outage can be found at this link.

Montgomery County police spokesperson Degan Bartels said that as of 10 a.m. there were no remaining road closures due to the storm that he and the police department’s Emergency Communications Center were aware of.

There are chances for another “intense” stormy evening in the region on Friday, according to Capital Weather. There is a high risk of severe winds during the storms, which are anticipated to hit the area between 5 and 9 p.m.

- Advertisement -

To get county alerts about weather, sign up for Alert Montgomery at this link.

Digital Partners

Originally published at Bethesdamagazine