NATCHEZ — Randolph Driscoll thought he was having an uneventful drive from Brookhaven to Fort Hood, Texas, Friday afternoon.

But the 20-year-old Brookhaven man, who was on his way to start a new job, didn’t realize that he had an appointment with destiny and one of Rosalie’s 100-plus year-old trees on Canal Street.

At approximately 3:10 p.m., a large portion of one of the oaks on the Rosalie property broke off at a split approximately six feet from the ground and fell toward Canal Street.

“I was just riding down the road, and I heard it cracking,” Driscoll said. “When I saw the limbs falling I hit the brakes.”

The branch crashed down, hitting the back driver’s side of the car. The branch didn’t break any glass, but the rest of the Honda Civic was completely trapped in the branches.

“I didn’t know what to think until I jumped out of the car,” Driscoll said.

“I’m a little sore, but I’m not hurt.”

Rosalie Manager Karlyn Ritchie was outside in the historic home’s courtyard at the time the limb fell.

“We heard it as it was cracking, and by the time we looked over it was falling,” Ritchie said.

Pointing to a place where the tree appeared scorched, Ritchie said the tree could have been weakened by recent storms.

“During the big storm (recently), we saw lots of lightning popping out here,” Ritchie said.

Only a few bricks on the wall bordering the Rosalie property were damaged when the branch struck them.

Canal Street was bottlenecked down to one lane while the car — which Driscoll said suffered mostly cosmetic damage and was still in running condition — waited to be liberated.

Natchez public works cleared the street using chainsaws and a bulldozer.