A small house crashed into another house in a bizarre accident in the West Kildonan area of Winnipeg Friday afternoon.

Robert Mazur said he was sleeping at around 12:15 Friday afternoon when he heard a loud rumble that sounded like a low-flying plane, followed by the sound of a window breaking.

A Hartford Avenue house tipped over while a basement was being built under it, a neighbour said.
(CBC)

When he got up to investigate, he found the roof of his neighbour's house poking into the kitchen of his Hartford Avenue home.

"I knew they were doing construction over there. I just thought it was a board or a two-by-four that maybe fell over. I didn't expect to see the whole house actually fall over," he said.

"It's a little bit of a shocker. Not the greatest way to wake up, but beats a cup of coffee, I guess, to get the blood going."

Mazur's neighbour's small bungalow was raised on steel beams as workers put in a basement. A beam shifted and the house tipped on its side, into Mazur's.

Workplace Health and Safety is investigating the incident.

At this point, Mazur said, it appears the only damage to his house is a broken window and some cracked drywall. 

"I've been in insurance for 25 years and I've never seen something like this happen before," said Horace Smaczylo, Mazur's insurance adjuster.

The 911 operator was skeptical when Mazur called to report that his neighbour's home had crashed into his, he said.

Once he had fully explained, he said, "they responded pretty quick."