Demolition crew mistakenly knocks down Texas tornado victim's house

KTRK logo
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Tornado victim shocked to find home mistakenly demolished
A homeowner says she was shocked to find her home had been mistakenly demolished

ROWLETT, TX (KTRK) -- A Texas woman felt fortunate her home escaped serious damage after tornadoes touched down in her city recently.

But she was shocked to come home Tuesday to find a demolition company made a mistake, and accidentally tore down the wrong house-her house.

"Boom. Just like the tornado came through again," Lindsay Diaz says.

A tornado victim was shocked to find her home had been mistakenly demolished

That's how she felt when she showed up to the site of her former home Tuesday.

After tornadoes ripped through Rowlett in December, Diaz and her family were relieved to find their home better off than so many others.

She was ready to make repairs after she says an engineer declared the home structurally sound, but then it was mistakenly torn down. When she met with the demolition supervisor right afterwards, he explained what happened.

"The team went out in the morning. They called him. They said, we're at 7601, 7603. Is it the corner lot? Was it damaged by the tornado?" Diaz says. "Yes, yes, yes. Except the street wasn't confirmed."

Instead of tearing down the duplex on Cousteau Drive a block over, the team demolished Diaz's home. She says the supervisor referred her to the company president, but when she called, she says he started making excuses.

"I didn't believe he was telling me this," Diaz says. "I was hope for an apology, I'm sorry my company did this. We'll make it better, and instead he's telling me how the insurance is going to handle it and telling me it's going to be a nasty fight."

The president of the demolition company declined to comment.

Diaz says she still hopes the company will help her, otherwise she'll be talking to attorneys.