Landslide pulls large homes off bluff and into Tennessee River amid sparks, crackling
Two large homes collapsed into the rain-swollen Tennessee River Saturday, and dramatic video shows the tumble was proceeded in one case by the eerie sound of cracking, snapping and sparks of electricity.
Only one of the homes on Glendale Road was occupied when the threat of a landslide became imminent, and the Hardin County Fire Department said the homeowners were evacuated safely, according to a Facebook post.
The first of the two homes collapsed about an hour after they were evacuated, officials said. The department reported on Facebook that the second two-story home tumbled off the bluff mid-morning on Sunday.
The collapsed homes were just 20 feet from Glendale Road, which has been closed as a precaution, the department said in a Facebook post.
A 20-second video shared by the fire department late Saturday showed one of the homes fall into the river in the glare of spotlights.
Cracking and snapping boards are heard, then the multi-storied home’s green walls begin to move, then fall, as power lines send sparks into the night.
“Oh my God,” someone is heard saying in the background.
Drone photos shared by the department show a large section of the riverfront known as Chalk Bluff had fallen into the water, leaving debris scattered as it went. Contents of the homes were spread up and down the hillside.
The names of the homeowners had not been released Sunday.
The collapse came as the department reported the river was at flood stage, following days of heavy rain the fell in the Southeastern U.S.
Heavy rain has been blamed for multiple slides involving rocks and mud in the past week across North Carolina, West Virginia and Tennessee, according to McClatchy News.
On Monday, a boulder tumbled down an unstable hill near West Virginia University, crushing a car and also hitting a rail car loaded with college students, according to police in Morgantown, W.V.
Three people were hospitalized, one of them with severe injuries, officials said in a Facebook post.
The 65-year-old driver of the car, Susan Cramer, suffered “several broken bones and internal injuries,” according to the Metro News.
