BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — A Martin County couple narrowly escaped tragedy Friday when their home collapsed in the night.
George and Ruth Patrick were asleep in their one-story house on Turkey Creek Road in Inez when they awoke to strange noises shortly before 2 a.m. Moments later, the structure gave way.
Ruth said she got up around 1 a.m. to use the bathroom and heard an unusual sound.
“I thought the sound was a kitten playing with a cardboard box,” she said.
At 2 a.m., she called for her husband.
“I got up and went through there,” George said. “And the floor was cracking. I told her, ‘Get out of here. This thing is falling in.’ By the time we got to the door, it had done fell in.”
George paused and shut his eyes.
“We like to have never got out of there,” he said. “We got out by the good Lord’s help.”
The couple fled the home with only the clothes they were wearing.
First responders arrived to find the structure already collapsed and the couple safe outside, but their two pets remained inside the house. Inez Fire Department firefighters entered the damaged building and rescued the pets “without incident.”
Emergency medical personnel from Patriot EMS evaluated George and Ruth at the scene for minor injuries.
Responders described the home, which sits over a basement, as suffering from “severe structural collapse.”
Sitting on a bench at the Hearts of Christ Church near his home after the sun came up, George and Ruth appeared visibly tattered and bruised from the escape.
“I never want to go through that again,” George declared, with Ruth echoing his statement.
The Patricks, who do not have insurance on their home, are now displaced.
According to family members, they lost all of their belongings in the unstable structure, which is unsafe to enter.
Their daughter, Deanne Higgenbotham, said a sinkhole caused the home to collapse.
“Please keep my family in your prayers,” Higgenbotham said on social media.
The Patricks’ granddaughter, Madison Blackburn, is seeking resources to help them.
“If anyone knows of any resources that could help with finding them a place and with other items they need, or if anyone has any clothes to give away or items of any sort, it would be greatly appreciated,” Blackburn said on Facebook. “Money is not necessary, but if anyone would like to donate money to help get the things they will need, that would also be greatly appreciated.”
Donations can be dropped off at the Hearts of Christ Church, 4441 Turkey Creek Road, Inez, KY 41224.
Money can also be sent to Blackburn’s Venmo or PayPal, or left at the church.
George’s needs: Size L/XL shirts, undergarments, pajama pants, jeans size 40/30, and size 9.5 wide loafers.
Ruth’s needs: Size L/XL shirts, sleepwear and undergarments, 38-C bra, jeans size 12–14, and size 9 shoes.
“Just continue to pray for them,” Blackburn wrote. “They are greatly devastated as anyone would be in this situation.”
Donation links:
Venmo: venmo.com/u/Madison-Blackburn-19
PayPal: paypal.me/MadisonBlackbu
