“I hit the ground,” he said as he stood at the bottom of the driveway leading to his home on Route 450 in the community that is part of the Town of Humber Arm South.
Hickey’s house slid about five feet, pushing off the concrete shores that supported it, crumbling siding underneath, taking out the front bridge and pushing out the fence along the front of his hillside home.
Earlier in the night Hickey had watched as heavy rain poured down around him.
“There was all kinds of water coming down on both sides of the house everywhere. It was unreal,” he said.
Then around 3:30 a.m. things took a turn for the worse.
“I heard a bang, crack, and that was it. She was moving.”
As the house slid Hickey tried to hold onto the wall, but he soon knew he had to jump out. Once outside Hickey didn’t know what would happen next, only that he needed to get further away.
“I thought she was going to tip right over while I was running down over the bank,” he said.
“It was unreal.”
Thankfully, the structure stopped sliding, but Hickey said there was nothing that could have been done if it hadn’t.
In the daylight a patch of ground where the hill to the left his house had given way could be seen.
Hickey’s home wasn’t insured and he wasn’t sure what would happen to it now. His only concern was finding somewhere to live.
“I don’t care about anything else.”
Later in the afternoon, the Canadian Red Cross issued a news release to say that it was providing emergency aid to Hickey.
The release said Hickey was staying with one of his brothers for now and that the agency had arranged emergency purchases of clothing, food and other basic supplies.
Electricity to the structure has been turned off and engineers will assess the damage before a decision is made on whether or not it’s safe to reoccupy the house.
“I hit the ground,” he said as he stood at the bottom of the driveway leading to his home on Route 450 in the community that is part of the Town of Humber Arm South.
Hickey’s house slid about five feet, pushing off the concrete shores that supported it, crumbling siding underneath, taking out the front bridge and pushing out the fence along the front of his hillside home.
Earlier in the night Hickey had watched as heavy rain poured down around him.
“There was all kinds of water coming down on both sides of the house everywhere. It was unreal,” he said.
Then around 3:30 a.m. things took a turn for the worse.
“I heard a bang, crack, and that was it. She was moving.”
As the house slid Hickey tried to hold onto the wall, but he soon knew he had to jump out. Once outside Hickey didn’t know what would happen next, only that he needed to get further away.
“I thought she was going to tip right over while I was running down over the bank,” he said.
“It was unreal.”
Thankfully, the structure stopped sliding, but Hickey said there was nothing that could have been done if it hadn’t.
In the daylight a patch of ground where the hill to the left his house had given way could be seen.
Hickey’s home wasn’t insured and he wasn’t sure what would happen to it now. His only concern was finding somewhere to live.
“I don’t care about anything else.”
Later in the afternoon, the Canadian Red Cross issued a news release to say that it was providing emergency aid to Hickey.
The release said Hickey was staying with one of his brothers for now and that the agency had arranged emergency purchases of clothing, food and other basic supplies.
Electricity to the structure has been turned off and engineers will assess the damage before a decision is made on whether or not it’s safe to reoccupy the house.
