diff --git a/git-svn.perl b/git-svn.perl
index 7f7a56fbea..957d44e630 100755
--- a/git-svn.perl
+++ b/git-svn.perl
@@ -2752,8 +2752,11 @@ sub mkemptydirs {
 		}
 	}
 	close $fh;
+
+	my $strip = qr/\A\Q$self->{path}\E(?:\/|$)/;
 	foreach my $d (sort keys %empty_dirs) {
 		$d = uri_decode($d);
+		$d =~ s/$strip//;
 		next if -d $d;
 		if (-e _) {
 			warn "$d exists but is not a directory\n";
diff --git a/t/t9146-git-svn-empty-dirs.sh b/t/t9146-git-svn-empty-dirs.sh
index 5948544ec5..70c52c1f97 100755
--- a/t/t9146-git-svn-empty-dirs.sh
+++ b/t/t9146-git-svn-empty-dirs.sh
@@ -82,4 +82,27 @@ test_expect_success 'git svn mkdirs -r works' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'initialize trunk' '
+	for i in trunk trunk/a trunk/"weird file name"
+	do
+		svn_cmd mkdir -m "mkdir $i" "$svnrepo"/"$i"
+	done
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'clone trunk' 'git svn clone -s "$svnrepo" trunk'
+
+test_expect_success 'empty directories in trunk exist' '
+	(
+		cd trunk &&
+		for i in a "weird file name"
+		do
+			if ! test -d "$i"
+			then
+				echo >&2 "$i does not exist"
+				exit 1
+			fi
+		done
+	)
+'
+
 test_done