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Whit Johnson ReportingA frightening moment for an Orem family this afternoon when a crane tipped over and landed on their house. The crane was being used to install power lines in the neighborhood.
Luckily none of the family members were hurt, despite the fact that two teenagers and a small child were inside at the time.
The damage is extensive, but it could have been much worse. A crane completely on it's side with the boom of the crane literally slicing through the home and garage. The accident happened this morning near 800 East and 300 North.
The routine job quickly turned dangerous. The accident took hours to clean-up. Wagstaff Crane Service, a company hired by Rocky Mountain Power, was installing power poles when the crane tipped over and landed on the home.
Chelsey Norton who lives in the home says, "I just saw the crane. It was a loud noise but sounded more like cracking." Norton was just pulling into the driveway when the rig tipped over. "I ran into the house because my brothers and sisters were inside," she explains.
Somehow all three walked away without a scratch. But despite aid and assistance from Rocky Mountain Power, the anger and frustration will leave a scar of its own. Home owner Christine Clark says, "It's a personal loss. It's very hard to deal with." Clark says she was against the project from the start, but was told it would only be a minor inconvenience. "Am I mad? I was upset about this two weeks ago," she adds.
The family recently remodeled a large portion of the home that was destroyed. The exact cause of the accident and who's to blame is still under investigation. Tonight the family obviously will need to find another place to stay.
"It looks like a storm of insulation is covering everything," Cark says. The garage, the cars inside, the backyard and much of the newly remodeled home were all crushed. But the family knows it could have been much worse.
"We had to pull our dogs out from underneath the car that was smashed," Norton says. Those dogs also survived without injury.
Power was temporarily shut off in the immediate area while crews were cleaning the mess. The exact cause and who's to blame is still under investigation.
