NAGS HEAD, N.C. — A stunning scene on the Marc Basnight Bridge at Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks Monday afternoon — a modular home had been blown off the truck transporting it and was pinned up against the guardrail on the bridge.
The North Carolina Highway Patrol said approximately 65 to 70 mph winds caused the home to disconnect from the trailer.
“There was a little bit of time there where we were literally praying and we were unsure about what was going to happen," said Rex Mann, the president of Mannkaniks, Inc. in Wanchese.
Watch: Modular home blown off trailer on Marc Basnight Bridge
Mann and his Mannkaniks Inc. crew got the call to assist from the North Carolina Highway Patrol.
“We were under the impression that it was a tractor-trailer, and we assumed the trailer was laying on the guardrail," said Mann.
When the crews got on scene, they quickly realized that it was part of a modular home that had detached from its trailer and was now pinned up against the guardrail.
"It was obviously a different situation than what we're used to," said Mann.
Mann and his crew are no strangers to helping out in tractor-trailer rollover situations, but this one was different. It also didn't help that the high winds were relentless as crews figured out their best plan of action.
“The hardest thing for me was, it's hard to predict what the wind's gonna do, so at any given time it could increase or pick up," said Mann.
Mann knew they had to block the wind somehow to be able to work in these conditions.
"That was the only way we were gonna be able to do it. So we moved our largest wrecker parallel to the house in that lane, the opposite lane, to block the wind. Then we started our process," said Mann.
Mann outlined the lengthy process of what they did to secure the house back on the trailer and slowly start transporting it down the bridge.
"We started our process with two medium duty hydraulic records, setting the house back on the frame itself, that was the easiest part of the whole job. After we got the house set on the chassis, and we began to move the trucks to reposition. It was very obvious that it was going to blow it back over. So we secured the trailer back to the chassis with chains and bolts. It was secured pretty good when it got there before this happened. It wasn't a lack of craftsmanship when it comes to tying a house down to a trailer, lots of bolts, lots of hardware, lots of chain, and it broke all of it. We went around the house with a complete strap all the way around the chassis and the house, and then back to two wreckers pulling down in the opposite direction to fight the wind. And after we got all of our stiff legs and blocking and cribbing up because we had everything to keep it from blowing back over, got all that up, and we started to move on. A four way phone call with all the drivers, the trucks and a house, all of it started to move less than half a mile an hour walking speed down the bridge. Had operators on the hydraulic parts of the wrecker, tensioning the cables on the straps that are going over the house as the trucks are moving. Obviously, keeping them perfectly in line and perfectly parallel distance wise is basically impossible. So they're winching in, winching out, to keep the correct tension on the house, to keep it secured to the bridge to keep it down to the ground, and then, obviously, when we got down lower in the lower part of the bridge, the load was lessened, and we were able to disconnect and get off the end of the bridge," said Mann.
A tedious process that was able to make sure this job was completed safely for everyone involved.
“It was an all-day event. We were doing everything we could all day to keep everybody safe, and thank God he looked out for us and we were able to accomplish the job and get the bridge opened back up," said Mann.
A team effort that included a lot of courage from everyone on scene to make sure it all went smoothly.
"It was time I was unsure. All of us depended on our faith. We had some concern about an emergency, because obviously Dare Med Flight won't fly in this, so we knew the pressure was on and we were moving as fast as we could to complete the job safely. It felt good to get to the other side of the bridge, that's for sure," said Mann.
