‘It’s coming down’: Portland house on edge of hill above another home after landslide

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Heavy rains and winds brought a home perched on a hillside to the edge as Portland and other areas of Oregon are grappling with power outages. 

The slide happened to a home on Northeast Cadet Avenue. One neighbor below the structure is worried it may crash into his home. 

“It’s coming down towards my house,” said Groschong Erickson, who lives below the landslide in Rocky Butte.

Erickson said when he woke up on Thursday, he found his neighbor’s driveway had crumbled overnight. The landslide left debris in its wake just short of his backyard.

“I saw some caution tape and some trees had moved but I didn’t know there was a landslide,” Erickson said. "It's not a surprise, that driveway has been teetering for a while and a lot of water was coming down."

The Portland Bureau of Transportation told KOIN 6 News that engineers with permitting and development surveyed the land. However, they said that because the slide happened on private property, repairs may fall on the owner. 

“I’m concerned about these trees coming into my yard. Hopefully they have a good insurance policy,” Erickson said.

The whipping windstorm caused trees to fall on power lines, roads and in the front yards of homes across Portland.

Since midnight, wind gusts have been tracked up to 63 mph along the coast and up to 48 mph in the Portland metro.

Thousands of people across Oregon are still without power.

John Farmer, a Portland General Electric spokesperson, said the storm serves as a strong reminder to stay prepared and stay safe, especially when it comes to downed power lines.

“It doesn’t have to spark, doesn’t have to sizzle or move around to be live. It can just be there. So number one: treat it as if it’s live. Number two: stay away. We recommend the length of a city bus, 40-50 feet away. And number three: give PGE a call,” Farmer said.

PGE recommends preparing for possible outages by having an outage kit — which includes things like food, medicine, lights and batteries — ready for emergencies.