House on the verge of falling down a hill
By Drayton Charlton-Perrin
Click here for updates on this story
HICKMAN, Kentucky (WPSD) — A mudslide from February 2025 continues to impact houses in the bluff, threatening to push a woman’s home down a hill.
Lucia Yemm owns a house across from the Fulton County Courthouse, overlooking the Mississippi River — and she said her contractor predicts only around a month remains before her house succumbs to erosion and falls off the hill.
“The mudslide is progressing about three feet a week,” Yemm said. “When my house goes, it’s going to take out all the houses down below me.”
Yemm’s friend Corry Schmidt had her home destroyed by the mudslide in 2025. It sits at the bottom of the bluff in shambles.
“February 16, at 10 o’clock at night, it had wiped it completely out,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said the problem has impacted everyone in the bluff and is a primary concern for homeowners.
“Wind blows, rain comes in, someone flushes a toilet, we have to worry about it,” Schmidt said.
Yemm reached out to many different local, state, and federal entities for help.
“I sent an email to the Corps of Engineers asking about it, because the mudslide was getting worse,” Yemm said. “They sent me an email back saying they’re not doing anything.”
Yemm said Hickman city government hasn’t been able to help either, and she doesn’t feel like they are taking the problem seriously.
“They’ll lie to us about who’s going to fix it, what they’re going to do about it,” Yemm said.
City Manager Robert Griggs said that the city has been trying to secure state and federal funding but has yet to be successful.
“It’s obviously going to be a bigger project than anything the city can do on its own, and it’s going to be a bigger project than the state can do on its own,” Griggs said.
The city is working to find a grant match to allow them to apply for disaster recovery money. While waiting for assistance, Griggs said that there are limitations on what city government can do with private property.
“Government isn’t really responsible for acts of God on private property,” Griggs said.
His advice to residents of the bluff is to continue reaching out to legislators for assistance.
“Reach out above us,” Griggs said. “To Congress, reach out to the Corps of Engineers, our state and local leaders, and just let them know, give them regular updates.”
Yemm said she tried that, but to no avail. “We’ve done legislators, Congressmen, even to the governor, and no one will help us,” Yemm said.
With only weeks before she expects her house to fall down the hill, Yemm doesn’t know where to turn.
“When you have to live like this constantly, it messes with your health, it messes with your sleep,” Yemm said.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.