A man has sustained serious injuries after a huge tree fell on the car he was driving during an afternoon downpour that pounded parts of Kampala.

The man was driving an Energy Ministry vehicle, a Nissan double cabin pickup, reg. no. UG 0149 K and was joining Kimathi Avenue from Portal Road towards Speke Road.

Witnesses at the scene say another man in the co-driver's seat fled for his life when he saw the tree falling.

The wreckage had to be cut through with pangas and pickaxes to rescue the driver who was trapped.

Henry Senoga, a breakdown driver based at the City Square, helped in yanking off car parts, and tree branches as first responders struggled to get the driver out of the wreckage.

"I was going on my ways but as a concerned person I decided to help," he said while fastening the cord of the breakdown on the door of the wrecked car.

After about 20 minutes the driver was extracted from the wreckage and put in a waiting minibus.

People were heard wondering where the Police and ambulances were. Police, which is about a stone-throw away from the scene, arrived after the victim had been rushed to hospital.

A bodaboda cyclist, SalimMutebi who survived the falling tree narrowly, was seen trembling.

"I had just parked my boda when I saw the tree coming for me," he said. November - December is a rainy season.