Cliff-Dangling Texas Mansion to Be Torched

Homeowner discovers insurance doesn't cover situation
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 13, 2014 3:59 AM CDT
Cliff-Dangling Texas Mansion to Be Torched
A luxury house teeters on a cliff about 75 feet above Lake Whitney in Whitney, Texas.    (AP Photo/WFAA.Com)

What's worse than having your luxury home fall into a lake? How about having your home fall into a lake and then having to pay for an expensive cleanup using specialized barges? To avoid this fate, the owners of a Texas home on the verge of toppling into Lake Whitney plan to torch their mansion this morning, reports the Waco Herald. The owners have hired a demolition firm to burn the home and then pull the debris back with an excavator to minimize damage to the lake. Firefighters and emergency medical services will be standing by. "Like any cliffhanger, I guess we're all watching and waiting, you know," a neighbor says.

Officials say that after part of a cliff gave way beneath the building, they looked into whether cables could be used to pull the $700,000 home onto stable ground and decided it wasn't a viable option. Homeowner Rob Webb says he is devastated by what has happened to the home he and his wife spent their retirement savings on—especially since he has just discovered his insurance doesn't cover ground movement. "It's like, 'Is that really my home? Or is that something else that you’re watching on TV,'" he tells WFAA. "And then you're like, 'Good grief, that is my home.' Yeah, it's a trying time, certainly." (Another unfortunate homeowner: An Alabama family burned down its home—accidentally.)

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