Couple recounts harrowing moments when flooding caused home's foundation to cave in

Imagine doing laundry in your basement when, moments after coming upstairs, you hear the loudest noise you've ever heard in your life. Then, floodwaters rush into your home, the foundation begins to give way, and the entire structure around you starts shaking.

That's what Michelle Starry and Chris Lynch experienced Sept. 12 at their home off Ligonier Street in Derry Township.

"I just heard a bang and looked out, and both pieces of the front of the foundation, they are gone, and water is just, like the jackrabbit, jumping in," said Lynch.

The couple said they had just gotten home from vending at a local festival, and Starry said she was in the basement doing laundry just moments before their foundation walls caved in. She said she was "blessed" to get out in time. 

"No one was getting out," said Lynch. "It was so quick. You would have been trapped."

Starry and Lynch said they gathered their dogs and got out of the house just as the foundation began to shift. The house is now condemned by the township, leaving the couple staying with a relative in nearby Latrobe and living out of suitcases.

"Everything that you take for granted — your toothbrush, your clothes — guess what? I can't go into the house to get it," Starry said. "I left here with nothing."

"And you're used to living on your own. It's challenging," added Lynch.

The couple said this has never happened before. And while they don't know what caused the flooding, they wonder if recent groundwork on top of the hillside across from their house somehow diverted water toward their property.

Right now, they said they are focused on figuring out things like insurance, coordinating with inspectors and determining what their immediate next steps should be.

"I am just grateful no one got hurt, because very easily someone could have," said Lynch.

Lynch and Starry said they are grateful for all the support they've received.