Winds obliterate gable of house
HOUSES were ‘shaking’ as bricks ‘just kept crumbling’ when strong Storm Jocelyn winds blew down part of a wall in Heywood on Wednesday morning (January 24).
Residents on Siddall Street were suddenly woken up after hearing an ‘almighty’ bang, before they were swiftly evacuated in the middle of the night. Bricks from the gable end of a terraced house continued to crumble and fall to the ground, even landing on top of a car and part of the house next door.
The drama unfolded shortly before 1am, as fire crews raced to the scene and cordoned off the road and the affected residents were evacuated. Those living in the house involved remain unable to return due to safety checks being carried out by surveyors, it is understood.
Next door neighbours Luke Balicki, who lives in the adjoining house with his wife Jasmine and daughter Heidi, were suddenly woken up by the noise at around 12.45am. Minutes later, the emergency services flooded their street.
“I have never heard a bang like it in my life,” Luke said. “When I tell you the house was shaking, it really was. We were in bed and all of a sudden there was this huge bang, like it was coming from outside.
“I didn’t think anything of it at first as I couldn’t see anything from out the front window. Then I heard next door shouting so I went out and that was it.”
Luke said the tumbling bricks landed onto the neighbour’s car on the driveway, part of a canopy
roof and also their fence. Dramatic pictures from the scene show the area taped off, with a pile of bricks completely covering next door’s land.
Luke, his wife and daughter, along with the family living in the house involved, were then welcomed into another
neighbour’s house living across the road until around 4am, when they went to stay with loved ones.
“The fire brigade were here within minutes and stayed until about 4,” Luke added. “I was thinking of my Mrs and my daughter; we just wanted to get well
away from the property. We were all in shock.
“Luckily nobody was hurt. Bricks and mortar can be rebuilt and replaced, but lives can’t be brought back.”
Another neighbour, who lives directly across the road, told the M.E.N that he heard an ‘almighty thump’. He said the bricks ‘just kept crumbling’ as the strong gusts of wind continued to batter the region overnight.
“I have just come back from holiday and have jet lag, so I was sat in the lounge and just heard this almighty thump. My wife came downstairs and we thought a tree must have fallen over onto our drive.
“We looked out the window and saw the wall had blown down. The wind caught it and it just kept crumbling. They [the residents] came across to us at about 12.45 and stayed with us for a few hours because the fire service said the building was unsafe. They have gone to stay with their families.
“The woman who lives there with her son was as white as a sheet. Everyone was just in shock.”
By midday on Wednesday, the street had reopened but the area outside the house remained cordoned off. The incident comes amid a yellow weather warning for wind implemented across parts of Greater Manchester by the Met Office.
Rochdale Borough Council confirmed they attended the property overnight to ‘support the occupiers and make the area safe after being alerted by the fire service’.