1 person hurt in partial collapse of North Philadelphia home

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An elderly woman escaped unharmed after her North Philly home partially collapsed Monday morning, leaving one other person hurt.

The house located on the 2100 block of North 9th Street collapsed just before 10 a.m.

A woman in her late 80s living there narrowly escaped and was uninjured, according to family members.

The cause of the collapse is under investigation, but the woman’s granddaughter, Natasha Olson, said contractors were trying to remove the breezeway next to the home before the incident.

“Once they started hitting that wall, my grandmother felt like it was just a little too loud and too close,” Olson said. “She came to the door and that’s when the whole house had collapsed.”

“[Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses and Inspections] was out here earlier, and they said that they don’t feel that the wall was even stable enough for them to start working on,” Olson said.

Nathaniel Hightower has lived in the neighborhood for more than four decades and said he was sad to see the “beautiful house” go down.

“This lady that lived in this house [has] been there [since] I was a little kid,” Hightower said. “Her family and everything were my friends … I’m happy that she’s out of there.”

Olson said her grandmother had lived in the home for over 70 years, and with Monday’s collapse, it’s not just her family that’s affected, but the rest of the community.

“My grandmother is very well known,” Olson said. “Just on this block, everybody looks out for her. Everybody loves her. I was so grateful that her neighbors was able to come out and help her and just treat her. Everybody looks at her like their own grandmother. I’m just so blessed that she has this community around her.”

One person was injured, according to police, and taken to Temple University Hospital, where they were reported as being in stable condition.