A retired kindergarten teacher from Oakland is lucky to be alive after a tree smashed through her windshield Monday afternoon as she traveled along Highway 13 in Oakland.

The woman had just entered the highway around 2 p.m. when a large tree fell on the front of her Volvo station wagon.

"Luckily the main trunk of the car missed her, but as you can see, it totaled the car," the woman's son said. "She got away luckily with just some cuts and scrapes on her hands."

The woman was transported to the hospital to be patched up, but her son was grateful that she only suffered minor injuries.

"Very lucky," he said. "Very lucky."

The uprooted tree blocked lanes of westbound traffic, but cars moving in a single file fashion managed to skirt around the hazard.