Landslide Closes Route 837 In Union Township

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UNION TOWNSHIP (KDKA) - Heavy rainfall sparked a landslide early Monday morning along Route 837 in Union Township.

The slide engulfed a large truck and the driver escaped to safety by crawling out of his passenger side. The driver tried to slam on his brakes, but couldn't stop fast enough.

"Yeah that's not something you see every day," said PennDOT's Brian Malik.

PennDOT crews worked through the night to clear debris and repair power lines that were dragged down the hillside by falling trees. The landslide happened just after midnight and it took crews more than 12 hours to clean up the mess.

"First thing we had to get done is basically remove all the large trees, we had Verizon lines down with a pole," said Malik.

The slide engulfed the truck, but it ended up acting as a retaining wall of sorts, preventing that slide from continuing down onto the railroad tracks below Route 837.

"Shocking, but luckily nobody got hurt and I'm grateful for that and we were able to remove the semi without damage to the road- there was damage to his vehicle," Malik said.

PennDOT crews started clearing road debris at 7 p.m. Sunday from the first round of rainfall across the area.

PennDOT says Route 837 will be closed between Kennedy Road and Hi View Drive/Huston Run Road for several days because of the instability of the slope.