Residents displaced after wall in Q Street row house collapses

WASHINGTON - Five D.C. residents have been displaced following the collapse of a wall in a Northwest row house.

The home located on Q Street is divided into three separate units occupied by tenants.

Amy Hutchinson, one of the occupants inside the row house, first noticed the crack on Wednesday and warned her neighbors.

"I noticed a huge crack in my bedroom and it went all the way down into my window," she said. "When I went over to investigate more closely, I heard a noise and it freaked me out. So when I called the landlord, it sort of escalated from there. I couldn't explain it to you, but it put enough fear in me that I wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible."

The owner of the row house believes a nearby construction project along with Wednesday's heavy rain caused the crack that led to the collapse.

According to a statement from the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, emergency personnel were immediately dispatched to the scene.

"Agency personnel are now working with an on-site structural engineer to secure the building," read the statement obtained by FOX 5's Matt Ackland. "Building residents have been evacuated to a hotel, and no injuries have been reported."

The landlord of the home is paying for the tenants' hotel stay.

The DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs is currently investigating the cause of the collapse.