The heavy equipment is at work today along Barney St. in Schenectady, after a mudslide on Sunday that damaged a house below the hill on Nott Terrace, and sent one person to the hospital.
Tons of earth, rocks, and debris came sliding down the hill early Sunday morning, leaving a 19-year-old man partially buried. His mother, Lisa Kelly, told reporters her son is expected to be okay.
"Just seeing the mudslide and how they got my son out was just amazing," Kelly said. "He was the only one trapped underneath the mudslide itself."
A house at the end of Barney St. is literally hanging off the side of the hill, and Schenectady mayor Gary McCarthy said demolition is underway. "What the engineers have recommended are the demolition of two buildings and a garage."
Nadeea Lewis and her family live a few doors down from the end of Barney St. She says she and her family were awakened in the middle of the night. "They were evacuating some people," Lewis said, "But we didn't have to go anywhere. They just said it was a mudslide, and I was like, 'oh, boy.'"
McCarthy said it hasn't been determined yet what caused the hillside to give way.
"It's a geological formation that's been here for thousands of years, and it's chosen to shift a little bit in the last few years."
The fate of the house at the bottom of the hill is uncertain at this point.
Nott Terrace remains closed between State and Chapel. Detours are in place.
photo: WGY news