One man is dead and another is injured after severe winds caused a house under construction to collapse at a KB Home neighborhood in Central Texas. The incident happened during a rainstorm at 12002 Salvador St. in the Creekside at Estancia development in south Austin on Thursday, August 27.
Travis County ESD 5 Fire Chief Chris Barron told MySA that 50 to 70 mile-per-hour gusts were reported Thursday by the National Weather Service in the area, which shifted the house. Four men who were a part of a framing crew were working inside the house when it collapsed, two of which managed to get out while the other two were trapped underneath the structure.
“It was thunder, it was lightning it was really bad winds,” Barron said. “They were a framing crew that works for KB Homes and it was a family. Literally, there’s three brothers and a son that were all framing the home when the storm hit.”
MySA reached out to KB Homes for confirmation on their employment, but did not hear back prior to publication. Barron said one man suffered traumatic injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. Fire crews managed to save one of the workers, who was airlifted to Dell Seton Medical Center with leg and ankle injuries.
The man’s current condition is unknown. Travis County ESD 5 is conducting its own investigation into the incident and officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were also on scene yesterday, according to Barron. MySA reached out to OSHA for more information.
Creekside Neighbor Mary Wessel called 911 Thursday around 4:20 p.m. when she saw the collapsed house from her driveway.
“I thought it was a thunderbolt that was very, very loud,” Wessel said. “I called 911 and they got here really fast, trying to help.”
Barron explained that the house fell forward instead of on its side, which could’ve led to more injuries since there are two homes, including Wessel’s, on both sides of the house that collapsed.
“If it was going in the wrong direction, obviously we would have a collapse on top of another home, and probably additional injuries or damage to either of the two homes on the sides,” Barron said. “So, the fortunate news is that it collapsed in the right way.”