SIKESTON, Mo. (AP) — An employee of a southeast Missouri retirement center is dead and three residents are injured after a tree fell during high winds.

The Sikeston Standard Democrat  reports that 41-year-old Richard Flye died Wednesday at Green Meadows Retirement Center in Sikeston when a gust of wind blew over a rotting tree. The tree landed on a picnic table where employees and residents were sitting.

Other workers say Flye was trying to help the residents when the tree fell.

Two of the injured residents were treated and released at a hospital. The other remains hospitalized with fractured ribs.