Collapsed house leaves huge hole in the side of one family's home

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (WTXF) - A house collapsed on Tuesday afternoon at North 7th Street.

The kids were down stairs doing their homework. I was up stairs doing some work for my church and all of a sudden the house just started shaking," said neighbor Delia Bailey.

Bailey said that when the house rattled, that is when she and her 8 grandchildren knew it was time to get out.

"You heard a boom and we all ran outside," she said.

Video from Sky Fox overhead shows the entire side wall and roof of the house next to Bailey's crumbled to the ground. Exposing bricks, furniture, clothing and other household items.

"My grandkids could have been in the alley in the back and I could have been in the yard over here. Just took the whole top of my house," said Bailey.

Inspectors from Licenses and Inspections arrived on scene to gauge the damage to both homes. The city boarded up the home several years ago, and it's been vacant ever since.

"They knew the house needed to have some work done on it .they never did it and now this is the outcome," added Bailey.

While everyone escaped Bailey's home safely, she's lived here for more than 30 years and now she's not sure what's next for her family.

"The fire department came out. The police department came out and they told us not to go back in the house until 'l and I' told us if it was safe or not," said Bailey. "Material things can be replaced. But life can't so."