14 DAY TRIAL // A man driving to check on the home of his late grandmother got a surprise when he couldn't find it anymore.
It had been mistakenly torn down by officials in the town of Fort Worth in Texas, NY Daily News reports.
David Underwood inherited the house from his grandmother, and it was located at 9716 Watercress Drive. When demolition crews came by, they mistook it for a broken-down home at 9708 Watercress Drive.
The two homes were located in close proximity to one another. The Google Maps screenshot attached to this news article reveals both locations.
“On July 12, 2013, contractors demolished the wrong property on Watercress Drive. [...] The property to be demolished should have been 9708 Watercress Dr. The property that was demolished was a vacant structure located at 9716 Watercress Drive,” the city’s code compliance officer has stated.
Underwood told local station KDFW that he came by to check on the house with his wife when he noticed it was missing.
“We came around Silver Creek looking for the lot and my wife said, David… I think the house is gone. [...] I was like, what? and we looked up there and sure enough, it's gone!” he recalls.
He asked for an explanation and realized that the contractors had made a mistake.
“As we left, I saw two city marshals on patrol and I said, ‘Hey, what happened? Somebody tore down our house’ and he goes ‘That was your house? Oops,’” Underwood describes.
A neighbor specified that the second home was up for demolition since January. He mentioned that to crews tearing down the residence, but they could not be swayed into desisting.
The home was valued at $82,000 (€62,450) and, although it was mostly empty, some of the belongings of Underwood's grandmother were still inside. He lost books and precious antiques.