08 December 2023 , 10:48
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A couple's dream home was destroyed by a landslide, leaving them with nothing just weeks before Christmas.
Donald MacColl, 61, and his partner, Vivienne Macarthur, 49, had invested everything into their new house near Oban, Scotland, which was crushed by boulders. Donald, who had spent two years building the house, returned from a trip to find total devastation.
He believes frost and water caused the rocks to fall on the house, with one boulder as big as a Mini car. Donald said: "It was absolutely scary because I didn't know if Vivienne was home. I tried to phone her but I didn't know if she was in. She had been going to Inveraray but I didn't know if she was back."
The remains of the house which was flattened by a landslide at BenderlochHe said to the Daily Record: "We are homeless, we have lost absolutely everything and we could have been killed." The house was completely flattened, leading to a frantic search for Vivienne. Donald was shouting for her for around 20 minutes until she called back. The couple had planned for the house to be their retirement nest egg, with plans to build another property nearby to rent out. He said: "We have worked all our lives and we have lost absolutely everything. There is not a thing left, a lot of personal stuff has gone and Vivienne's car, it's absolutely brutal. We were going to build a house in front of the house, it was to be our retirement fund."
Oban Holiday Park has kindly provided them with temporary accommodation, but they are urgently looking for somewhere else to stay from Saturday when the park is fully booked. Donald spoke on behalf of the couple, explaining that his partner, a manager at Torosay Court retirement housing complex in Oban, has been signed off work due to the devastation caused by the incident.
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The couple have been left homeless after the devastationDonald, known locally as Dondie, said: "The house was completely finished, everything, with new furniture, all I had still to finish was a handrail. It was all my own work, my own labour for two years, I did everything apart from the wiring and the plumbing."
Lewis Morrison, a long-time resident near Ben Lora, said: "Ben Lora is conglomerate, it's not like granite, it's made up of little bits, that's why rocks have fallen down from time to time but there has never been anything like this, this is an awful thing to happen." A GoFundMe page set up by friend Cieran Moran has raised over £6600 by Friday morning.
Cieran pleaded: "Their new home was completely destroyed by a landslide, please help raise funds to ease the devastation caused by a serious landslide that has left our friends homeless."
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