https://apnews.com/article/sierra-leone-fallen-historic-tree-cotton-tree-c05bab1bb78be76d8a188a02a0afc62b

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Torrential rains in Sierra Leone's capital felled the centuries-old Cotton Tree, a national treasure whose loss has left “a gap" in people's hearts, the country's President Julius Maada Bio said Thursday.

“There is no stronger symbol of our national story than the Cotton Tree, a physical embodiment of where we come from as a country,” Bio told the Associated Press. "Nothing in nature lasts forever, so our challenge is to rekindle, nurture, and develop that powerful African spirit for so long represented,.’