BASSETT, Va. – “It was really scary," said Tabitha Bowman when describing what she witnessed Sunday night when the hillside behind her home gave way.
“I kept hearing pecking on the window, so I ran into the living room and about that time it went black, the windows did," Bowman said.
The trees and the mud stopped just short of the house.
At the advice of her husband, she and their child went up to the attic.
“We waited it out up there and rescue came and picked us up," she said.
“The front door was about to cave in, so I was standing there about 45 minutes as hard as I could hold the front door," said Tabitha’s husband, Chad.
Chad said that’s the only reason the house didn’t fill up with water like his mother’s house next door.
Inside his mother’s house, mud and water was seemingly everywhere.
“It washed half of her hardwood flooring out, all of the furniture out. There’s her kitchen table chair stuck in her car, so it blew the kitchen door out," Chad said, standing in the driveway gesturing to his mother’s car.
A large section of the front wall of the home has been pushed in, as has a garage door.
Though much will likely have to be thrown away, family members were able to salvage some items.
“It’s just crazy how (my grandmother) was literally just sitting there watching TV and now she doesn’t even have the heart to go in there right now.," said Amanda Bowman.
Next door, Chad and Tabitha’s home is also damaged. The back of the foundation has collapsed.
“It’s a mess, but we’re going to be okay," Chad said.
Neither Chad and his wife nor his mother have flood insurance.
Chad said he will likely look for somewhere else to live now and not try to repair his home and move back in.