BEVERLY - Wind gusts of 40 mph made driving difficult yesterday as trees and branches fell to the ground, making some roads an obstacle course.

Just ask Carole Tabor, 64, of Beverly, who escaped major injury when a large tree fell on her car while she was driving south on Route 127 near Landmark School.

The strong winds blowing across the North Shore also toppled a tree across Route 1 in Topsfield, blocking the road in both directions.

The tree, which fell near the south gate of the Topsfield Fair grounds, forced police to reroute traffic for a half-hour until highway department workers were able to move it off the road at 3:40 p.m. Police rerouted traffic in both directions until the road was cleared at 3:40 p.m.

Peabody firefighters and the city's tree department also dealt with part of a tree that fell on Milk Street at about 4:30 p.m. Part of the tree's trunk fell on the road, taking telephone and cable wires with it.

Though those incidents were inconvenient, the wind damage in Beverly was much more dangerous, as Tabor found out shortly before 3:30 p.m. as she was running some errands.

The fallen tree left Tabor with a sore shoulder and a bruised hand. She was still shaken up from the crash hours later in a phone interview.

Tabor recounted seeing a jogger on the sidewalk sidestep a branch.

"And the next thing I saw was a great, big branch come down. I never expected it to hit the car," she said. "Then it went through the moonroof, shattered the windshield. I was just stunned. There was nothing I could do."

Police said the top of the tree fell on Tabor's car, while the heavier part of the trunk fell on the opposite side in the northbound lane.

Tabor was covered with glass from the windshield, as shards settled all over her hair, clothes and shoes.

After the accident, motorists and pedestrians went to her, and she said she asked them to call 911 because she doesn't have a cell phone.

While Tabor is OK, her 2006 BMW received damages of between $10,000 and $15,000.

Tabor was able to get out of the car, which somebody moved into the parking lot of Landmark School.

Police Lt. Michael Sungy, who came upon the accident while on his way to work yesterday, said the accident could have been much worse if there were another vehicle on the opposite lane.

"If that tree came down and hit a car on the northbound side, it would have killed somebody. It was that large," Sungy said. "Luckily, no one was injured."

Sungy, who got out of his car to direct traffic on the narrow state road, complimented the other motorists and pedestrians who helped Tabor and even cleared up debris.

The lieutenant said a neighbor started cutting the tree with a chain saw, but his battery went dead. The Beverly Fire Department arrived and took over and cut the tree into large sections and moved it off the road. Beverly fire Lt. Robert Eastwood said the tree was 30 to 35 feet long and about a foot and a half in diameter.

"A bunch of people got out of their cars and started cleaning up the road," Sungy said. "That was nice. The people were very civic-minded."