One of Sierra Leone’s landmarks, the centuries-old cheese tree in the capital Freetown, lost all its branches after a storm on Wednesday evening.
The 70-meter-tall giant, known locally as the “cotton tree,” is reduced to the base of its massive trunk after “torrential rains and strong winds,” the government of this small West African country said in a statement on Thursday.
The Ministry of Tourism and Culture later said in a statement that the remains of the tree would be “secured and conserved” by police until they were moved to the National Museum by the Ministry’s Monuments Commission.
Throughout the day, several hundred people, as well as President Julius Maada Bio, visited the site in mourning.
“For centuries, the cotton tree has been a proud emblem of our nation, a symbol that serves as a haven for many,” said President Bio.
“I was shocked to see our beloved cotton tree destroyed on the way to work this morning,” Gibrilla Sesay, a 34-year-old financial sector worker, told AFP.
According to tradition, the slaves ended up under this cheese tree, depending on the name “kapok tree”, “love tree” or “cotton wood”, in North America, where they had won their freedom by fighting on the side of the British At the end of the 18th century it would have come to pray and give thanks to heaven during the American Revolutionary War.
The tree’s image adorned banknotes and postage stamps, and its fame earned it a visit from Queen Elizabeth II in 1961.
The tree had already been hit by flames in 2018 and then in 2020.
Sierra Leone has suffered several environmental disasters in recent years.
In August 2017, a mudslide caused by heavy rains killed more than 1,100 people in the capital.