High winds blow house down on Pittburgh's South Side

South Side resident Desmon Dashawn said it sounded like a lightning strike but felt like an earthquake when the vacant house next door collapsed about 1 p.m. Saturday.

The destroyed house fell partly onto South 16th Street, damaging multiple parked cars and pushing up against the structure next door. The house had been undergoing work for the past six months.

No injuries were reported.

“There was a loud boom. All of our pictures fell off the wall. We assumed it was a lightning strike. We looked outside and the house was in the middle of the street,” Dashawn, 26, said.

He rents the upper floor of the house next door and said his girlfriend’s silver Honda Civic coup was damaged after debris from the collapsed house landed on the cars parked on the street a few blocks up from Carson Street.

“They’ve been doing the demo work for the last six months and pretty much ripped all the guts out of the house, the important stuff holding up the house and today is like the perfect day for it to finally collapse with the winds and whatnot,” Deshawn said. “It scared me at first but I’m fine I guess.”

Deshawn’s downstairs neighbor Vicki Weisen, 80, whose daughter owns the house, said there was more damage downstairs including cracks in the walls and ceiling.

“I’m still shaking,” Weisen said. She lives alone with her two dogs. ”I’m doing what I have to do but I’m scared. My son in law is coming to stay with me.”

An electrical wire hanging from the collapsed house was removed by Duquesne Light. Weisen said her house still has power, gas and water. City inspectors said it’s safe for the building’s residents to remain.