Anne Frank’s tree collapses

The giant chestnut tree that Anne Frank wrote about several times in her diary collapsed in stormy weather.

The tree, at more than 150 years old, had developed a fungus that weakened it, and it fell over Monday in heavy wind and rain, according to reports. Weighing about 27 tons, the tree was encased in a steel harness nearly two years ago to keep it upright. Its trunk reportedly snapped about three feet from the ground.

“It broke off like a match,” a spokesman for the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam told Reuters. The Anne Frank House was not hit, though several neighboring structures were said to be damaged.

Saplings taken from the tree have been planted around the world. A sapling from the tree reportedly will be planted in its place.