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The owners of a Dallas-area duplex are upset that their structure was wrongly torn down during cleanup following a late-December tornado. The demolotion company owner says he'll "make it right." (March 28) AP
A duplex on Cousteau in Rowlett, Texas, was supposed to be demolished Tuesday, March 22, 2016. Instead, Lindsay Diaz and Alan Cutter's duplex on Calpyso was torn down.(Photo: WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth)
ROWLETT, Texas<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— A Texas woman whose tornado-damaged home was wrongly torn down has received an apology from the demolition company.
Lindsay Diaz and her son survived a Dec. 26 tornado, only to have their tornado-damaged home demolished last week.
"Disbelief, it's hard for me to sleep," said Diaz. "It's all I think about."
Diaz and her neighbor, Alan Cutter, had been waiting on insurance and a possible FEMA assistance declaration before they began repairs on the duplex they each own sides of. But they were left with nothing Tuesday when their homes were mistakenly demolished.
Billy L. Nabors Demolition of Seagoville, Texas,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>had a permit to tear down a duplex at 7601/7603 Cousteau but blamed Google Maps for sending them a block over to Calypso.
USA TODAY
'Nothing left': Company tears down wrong tornado damaged home
Diaz said that, in the days immediately after the mistake, the demolition company wouldn’t return her calls.
"In the beginning I just thought they weren't going to contact me at all,” Diaz said. “I thought I was going to ride this out on my own."
But Diaz wasn’t alone.
Thousands responded to the story on Facebook, calling for the company to apologize for the mistake — an apology Diaz said she finally got<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Friday.
"I sat down with them and we spoke with them and they sincerely apologized," Diaz said.
The wrong duplex was torn down Tuesday, March 22, 2016, in Rowlett, Texas. The homes had been damaged by a tornado in December, but weren't supposed to be torn down.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth)
No one from Nabors Demolition would agree to an on-camera interview with WFAA-TV.
CEO George Gomez said by phone Sunday the company was overwhelmed by the worldwide news coverage their mistake generated online.
With no one in the company versed in public relations, Gomez said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>his “mom and pop” small business didn’t know how to react, so they said nothing publicly.
But Nabors said the company is committed to doing whatever it takes to make sure both duplex owners are taken care of after their mistake.
"They promised to help and to make it right,” Diaz said. “My advice to them is to come through with that."
Follow David Goins on Twitter:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>@dgoins
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