The News (New Glasgow)

Falmouth house demolished

- BY COLIN CHISHOLM

The house that Heather Strickey and her family called home for more than 10 years is now gone.

On Sept. 3 the Strickey home partially collapsed into a sinkhole that enveloped a large portion of the structure. This week, nearly four months later, an excavator tore down what was left standing.

Strickey said it was hard to watch.

“Even though we knew it had to come down and I thought I was prepared for it, to actually see the machine just ripping through the house so easily and so quickly, I thought, ‘How is this possible?’ ” Strickey said.

“This was our home for more than a decade and it seemed so strong and sturdy, that it could just be taken down so quickly was just shocking and sad to me.”

Strickey added that having the demolition take place so close to Christmas made it that much more difficult.

“It was a really tough Christmas for us,” she said of husband Chris and teenage daughters Julia and Gabby.

“We’re in a rental home, still paying a mortgage on this house we can’t live in, and the fact that we’ve lost most of our Christmas decoration­s. We lost a loved one right around Christmas, so it was a really difficult, strange time.”

Strickey said they still remain optimistic that things will turn around.

“Our lawyer is in discussion­s with Wawanesa (an insurance company). It’s a very complex and unique situation, trying to figure out what can happen to get us in a new home,” she said.

Strickey said the demolition was done in conjunctio­n with their insurance provider.

She added that Wawanesa has also covered security costs, 24hour surveillan­ce of the grounds after the initial week. The first week was covered by the municipali­ty.

 ?? COLIN CHISHOLM/HANTS JOURNAL ?? Pieces of the home on Mountain View Drive in Falmouth fall away from the structure as the excavator demolishes the building Tuesday.
COLIN CHISHOLM/HANTS JOURNAL Pieces of the home on Mountain View Drive in Falmouth fall away from the structure as the excavator demolishes the building Tuesday.

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