Wrecking crew forgets to double-check location

Mar 25, 2016 17:00 GMT  ·  By

A wrecking company has demolished the wrong housing duplex after one of its employees was misled by a Google Maps error.

In December 2015, the city of Rowlett, near Dallas, Texas, was hit by a tornado that destroyed or damaged multiple houses. Some of the unlucky homeowners who had their houses damaged beyond repair contacted demolition companies to have their house lots cleared in order to start rebuilding their new homes.

One of the contacted companies was Billy L. Nabors Demolition, who was contracted to demolish the house at 7601 Cousteau Drive.

Never, ever, hire a demolition company from another town

On the day of the demolition, Nabors employees, who were from the city of Seagoville, near Forth Worth, used Google Maps to discover the precise location of the house they had to demolish.

An error in Google Maps, confirmed by a Google employee to CNet, took the company's workers to the housing duplex at 7601 and 7603 Cousteau Drive, a block away (see map below).

The housing duplex was owned by Lindsay Diaz and Alan Cutter, who were waiting for their insurance company and FEMA representatives to decide on repairs.

According to Diaz, who hid in the duplex's bathtub to protect herself and her son from the December tornado, the house suffered damages, but nothing that couldn't be repaired. Apparently, the tornado busted the house's windows, ripped the floor and tore away some part of the ceiling, leaving some portions exposed to the sky.

Despite this disheveled look, the duplex's structure remained intact, and she said repairs would have fixed all issues.

Now, after this unfortunate error, Diaz and Cutter will probably have to sue the demolition company to get the necessary funds to rebuild their house. A lawsuit seems certain after Nabors' CEO casually said to Texas TV station WFAA8 that the demolition was "no big deal."

Map showing the two locations
Map showing the two locations

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The demolished housing duplex at 7601 and 7603 Cousteau Drive
Map showing the two locations
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