Holy hijinks! how (censored) fast would he have been traveling to wrap the minivan around the tree like that?
If I understand the story correctly, he got caught by a gust from the hurricane as it was slamming into the gulf coast. If the guy was traveling, say, 65 ot 70 mph, and got caught by a wind gust of equal or greater force, you can easily see how such a devastating accident could occur.