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NORWALK, Conn. – An SUV with two passengers crashed into a home on Van Buren Avenue in Norwalk Thursday morning. The mother and her young daughter, a toddler, were taken to Norwalk Hospital for evaluation, according to Norwalk Fire Department Dep. Chief Edward Prescott.
The impact at about 10:37 a.m. filled the two family home at 15 Van Buren Ave. with an "explosive level" of gas, forcing the evacuation of three people. Van Buren Avenue was promptly closed by Norwalk Police and Prescott estimated that it would remain closed at least until 12:15 p.m.
The toddler in the vehicle was in a child-safety seat, in the back seat of the SUV, Prescott said. Both the mother and her child were out of the car when fire crews arrived. The baby was crying and both were conscious. Both had facial injuries and Prescott said there may have been internal injuries.
The SUV barreled through a light pole and a street sign at the corner of Maple and Van Buren avenues, across from Norwalk Hospital. It went through a chain-link fence and across the lawn of 13 Van Buren Ave. It clipped the electric meter on that house and then smashed into the corner of 15 Van Buren, where the gas meter was, damaging a significant portion of the basement wall, Prescott said.
The basement and the house filled with gas, "definitely at explosive levels." A man was on the first floor and a woman and her child were on the second floor. They were evacuated.
Firefighters aimed fans at the house and at about 11:30 a.m. began blowing air into the ground to dissipate the level of gas in it. The odor of gas hung in the air.
Gil Taborda, owner of the damaged home, said the female driver and her child appeared to be OK and he was just glad no one was hurt. "My main concern is the people who are there," he said. "Of course people are worried but the main thing is the passengers in the car."
Comments (11)
Hi I was the tenant of the second floor, first of all I hope she and her kid are ok, I can't comprehend though how did she ended up in our house since the little brick wall was intact but you can see the tire marks on the grass. I would think she must of have been speeeding, wich I find unacceptable when you have a little one on board. I have a three year old myself who was with me in the house at the time of the accident, whose inocent mind thinks we were taking a field trip to the firefighters truck =) These last three days have been exhausting. my school work has suffered (on final's week) my finances as well even my family time has been limited I guess untill we find a stable place. The message I want to bring to people is that one second of irresponsability changed the lives of three families. Please bee carefull driving if you dont have respect for your own life, respect the others at least. I thank God we are ok, I know it could have been worse. It could have been prevented as well. Drive safe
Okay, my bad. I drove past there this morning, for some reason I always thought that Van Buren Avenue was the first leg of Maple St. I apologize.
Looking at the damage today and comparing it to the photos that Nancy posted,...I cannot imagine how this ever happened.
Certainly its a bad intersection & a busy area. But the houses arent in the street. People need to pay attention to their driving. These days to watch people drive is very similar to watching someone walking with an I-pod in their ear. Theyre clueless to their surroundings, except driving a car is not like walking down the street, as this & other recent tragedies clearly show. Now this property owner is saddled with displaced tennants, probably lost rental income, huge repair bill plus the tax burden for however long it takes until he starts getting rent again since I doubt the city cares if a house is liveable as far as tax collection purposes. The driver should be covering all these expenses.
How did it happen? Just barrell down Stevens St. and don't turn your wheel. Looking down at the moment? Turn around to see if the toddler is okay?
Mom knows.
http://maps.yahoo.com/#q=24+Stevens+St%2C+Norwalk%2C+CT++06850-3852&conf=1&start=1&lat=41.111800901216625&lon=-73.41976135969162&zoom=20&mvt=h&trf=0
I should add that they need time to investigate. Cops on the scene would not have been able to tell me how fast they think the car was going.
Rerbc,
I don't have any of that information yet. Norwalk Police don't typically answer questions at the scene of an accident. We'll follow up with another story.
Mr Hunt ; That intersection is a five way with a stop sign controling one and a traffic light controling the other four. Some times people try to run the light some don`t stop for the stop sign,and on top of all that you have lots of cars. If you come out here and watch what goes on at this intersection I`ll bet you would try to find another way around this area.Not to say that this may have been driver error still there have been plenty of problems at this intersection and something needs to be done.
I don't like going down "hospital hill" to that intersection. Cars coming from the hospital side dont like stopping for the stop sign (Stevens Street), I'll bet that is what happened here, she either ran the stop sign, or someone ran it to cause her to crash.
I'm curious as to how fast was she going? Did she mean to hit the brake, but hit the gas pedal instead? I hope they are both ok...that is a lot of damage to both the house and car!
And, ridgenorwalk...isn't that always the case? "Traffic consultant said there will be no impact"
My heart goes out to all the injured parties. But how is the design of the intersection to blame for a car that "barreled through a light pole and a street sign... went through a chain link fence and across the lawn...clipped the electric meter on that house and then smashed into the corner of 15 Van Buren"?
This intersection is really bad. I have said this for a long time but no one listens. Last year when the hospital wanted to put up the new parking garage that intersection was brought up. But as always there traffic consultant said (there would be no impact) every time there is a traffic study they ALWAYS say no impact. Some one need to take a close look at that intersection( Maple st & Van Buren Ave.)