Two people rescued after Bellevue home slides off foundation; dozens evacuated

Bellevue police rescued two people from a home that slid off its foundation early Monday as water gushed down a hillside from a broken water main.

Police received a call about flooding around 4 a.m., and officers, along with fire crews, arrived to find a partially collapsed two-story home listing at a 45-degree angle, said Meeghan Black, a spokesperson for the Bellevue Police Department.

The home, in the 5000 block of 139th Place Southeast, appears to be the only one seriously damaged in the slide, Black said. About 40 people from 17 nearby homes were evacuated. They took shelter in friends’ or relatives’ homes, or at the South Bellevue Community Center.

A damage assessment by city and state geologists and engineers found at least seven other homes were in the path of the collapsed home’s remnants or could not otherwise be accessed because of unsafe street conditions, the city said in a statement Monday afternoon.

“Once the damaged house is stabilized, city engineers will reevaluate the conditions,” the statement said. “Other evacuated families are being notified that they will be able to return home once the road has been sufficiently cleared of debris.”

Utility crews shut off water and gas service in the area Monday, as authorities also received complaints of minor gas leaks. Black said the odor of natural gas was noticed near the site of the collapse around 8:30 a.m.

Two adults and their dog were pulled from the large, two-story home. When officers arrived, a man on the first floor was attempting to help his wife and dog downstairs after the entire stairwell was ripped from the wall, Black said. They were unharmed.

“This is pretty devastating,” Black said. “We’re very, very fortunate that no one was injured in this incident.”

It remained unclear Monday afternoon whether the saturated hillside caused the house to shift, or if the slide was caused by the broken water main, Black said.

Dana Felton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle, said the risk of natural landslides caused by rain was relatively low Monday.

“Because we’ve had a few dry days, we’re not in an elevated risk at this point,” he said.

The Bellevue police and fire departments were continuing to survey other homes in the area for damage Monday afternoon, along with a team from the Washington Department of Natural Resources.

Crews also were clearing roadways and storm drains to provide an outlet for the gushing water.

Seattle Times staff reporter Lewis Kamb contributed to this report.