Lyric Vick steps outside his Middletown home these days and finds a cliff where his backyard used to be. Storms tore through Browns Run Road overnight on Sept. 20, and when the rain cleared, Vick discovered a drop of roughly 20 feet had opened up just 10 feet from his back door.
“10 feet from my back door is a 20-foot drop,” Vick said, describing the damage, according to fox19.com. The severe weather that night brought nonstop lightning and tornado warnings to the area, and Vick estimates the storm stripped away anywhere from five to 10 feet of his own land in a single overnight event.
Retaining Walls Buckled, Patio Tiles Swept Away
The erosion didn't stop at the yard itself. Vick said the storm knocked his retaining walls down by roughly half, and about five patio tiles were lost in the collapse, per the same report. He said the retaining wall will need to be repaired before the rest of the property can be stabilized.
Vick has been left in limbo since the storm, watching the edge of his property inch closer to the house with each new system that rolls through. “We lost probably anywhere from five to 10 feet of our own land,” he said, according to the outlet's report.
Insurance Calls It ‘Earth Movement,’ Declines to Pay
Vick said he turned to his homeowners insurance for help covering repairs, only to be told the damage falls outside his policy. His insurer classified the collapse as earth movement, a category his current plan does not include coverage for.
“It's called ‘earth movement,’ and that's not something our insurance really covers,” Vick said. The distinction has left him on the hook for a fix that could run as high as $75,000, an estimate for the retaining wall repair and broader erosion mitigation work the property still needs.
Fresh Anxiety With Every Storm
Ohio's Department of Natural Resources has noted that bluff-style erosion, unlike wave-driven shoreline erosion, is often addressed through a combination of upland drainage systems, retaining wall installation, or regrading of the slope, according to Ohio Department of Natural Resources guidance. The agency separately notes that landslides occur when a hillside of earth materials destabilizes and moves downslope, a process that can unfold rapidly or stretch across hours, weeks, or years, according to a separate state resource on geologic hazards.
For Vick, the science offers little comfort while the wall behind his house remains unrepaired. He worries that without intervention, the damage could keep compounding. “It could get a lot worse over multiple spans of days,” he said. He described each new storm system as bringing a fresh wave of anxiety, since the property remains unstabilized and the drop-off sits just steps from his door.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover repair costs as Vick works through the uncovered expense, the report notes. For now, he's left watching the forecast and hoping the ground holds until the retaining wall can be rebuilt.
