Landslide Slams Ross Home, Collapses Road

A family was forced from their home Thursday night when a wall of water and mud came crashing into the rear of their residence at 137 Glen Lane. No one was hurt.

“Branch after branch as if they were fire crackers, but it was the wall cracking as it came in,” homeowner Andy Bencsics told WPXI TV. “The wall was coming about an inch every 30 seconds so you saw it coming but I was worried that it could go at any time.”

The landslide started when a portion of Virginia Road, which runs behind Glen Road, collapsed after several hours of heavy rains. 

Melissa Lucciola lives in the home directly across the street from the landslide.

"It was like a huge waterfall coming over the hill from the road above us," she said. "Then the lights blinked, and the next thing we knew, all of the emergency vehicles were arriving. It was pretty scary. I guess the people were in their living room when the mud came through their back wall."

Utility crews spent several hours relocating a natural gas line which ran underneath the road. In additions to tons of mud, dirt, and asphalt from the road, a 60-foot tree slid down the hillside, but remained upright.

"I was just looking over there the other day, and there was a big tree there, and I was just thinking, boy if that tree every came down, and sure enough three days later it slid down the hill," said Darryl Cozza, another resident of the neighborhood. "It's kinda crazy. We got what seemed like a summer's worth of rain in one night, it was like a creek running through there."

Virginia Road is owned and maintained by Ross Township. Commissioner Chris Eyster, who lives in the neighborhood, said the township will work with its insurance company, and the homeowner's insurance company, to determine how the damages will be covered.

But Bencsics told WPXI-TV his insurance doesn’t cover landslides, and he’s not sure how the damage will be handled.

"What a tragedy," said Eyster. "This is something that you never think would happen, and a freak of nature occurred here." 

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