The old wooden home of a Campbellville family came crashing down last night while the occupants were inside the building, briefly trapping them under the rubble but within minutes everyone managed to escape without any serious injuries.
Katherine Adams and her four young boys resided at the Lot 28 Delph and Duncan streets home; last night they were without any shelter but grateful to be alive. The boys suffered minor cuts and bruises, but were all rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital for evaluation while Adams escaped without a scratch.
“I heard this loud sound and next thing I know the whole place cave in. I didn’t know what to do but scream for my children and run”, a relatively calm Adams said last night. She fought her way through the rubble and managed to make it outside where she found her children waiting on the road. She said the boys were initially traumatised, particularly the 7-year-old; the eldest is 11-years-old.
Speaking about the experience, the woman said, it was scary. She said it happened “so fast” and within a short while the place she called home was nothing but a pile of rubble. Neigbours ran to assist the family and someone also called the fire service, which showed up promptly on the scene. Adams said the whole thing was really bizarre, but she stressed that the building was old.
According to the woman, a lack of finances prevented her from doing some necessary repairs. She said the house was in dire need of some repairs, but that it was just not possible “right now”. She said the decision to live in the place like that was also a hard one to make, but that she had no place to go with her children. She currently has no place to go, but a neighbour offered temporary shelter for the night.
Adams had no explanation for what happened except that a gust of wind might have been the reason why the house collapsed. She said the house had been standing prior to the 40 years that she has resided there.
Her children, six in number, were raised in the home and for the past few years she has lived there with her four younger children.
Pointing to her losses, the woman said, some of her possessions would have been damaged. She recalled seeing the damaged television set while climbing out of the rubble. She estimated her losses at close to a million dollars, but noted that she could not be certain until given an opportunity to search through the rubble.
“I am alive, my children are alive and we are okay, that is what is important to me”, Adams told this newspaper. She said too that God is watching over the family and that he was watching over them when the house collapsed.
Anyone wishing to help Adams can contact her on 695-2456
