Update: On Rockingham Road where a semi hit a house — ‘I have never seen anything like this’

Annette Oberlander was shocked when her boss at Sharon’s Styling Studio called at 12:15 a.m. Monday.

What she saw a short time after that call from Sharon Wachal left her speechless as she stood outside the salon at 3018 Rockingham Road.

“Sharon told me the police has just called her and a semi truck had hit the studio and run into a house,” Oberlander said later Monday morning. “It sounded a little crazy, maybe. I really didn’t know what to expect.”

According to the Davenport Police Department, at 11:56 p.m. Sunday emergency crews responded to the 3000 block of Rockingham Road for a report of a multi-vehicle crash with damage to several structures.

Police said the preliminary investigation showed a Freightliner semitractor-trailer was driving eastbound in the 3400 block of Rockingham Road when the driver lost control and hit a Dodge Ram 1500 traveling westbound. Police said the semitractor-trailer continued, hitting a Cadillac XTS, also traveling westbound.

The semitractor-trailer continued eastbound, hitting a westbound Chevrolet Equinox in the 3000 block of Rockingham Road. City crews confirmed the semitractor-trailer then grazed a power pole and jumped the curb before clipping the side of Sharon’s Styling Studio and burying its cab in the front of the home at 3010 Rockingham Road.

Four people were transported to area hospitals, including the two women in the home who were injured. One was taken to a local hospital for treatment; the other transported to Iowa City with serious injuries.

According to police reports, the driver of the semitractor-trailer was also treated for minor injuries at the hospital. Police said no charges have been filed at this time. The driver of the Cadillac also self-transported to the hospital with minor injuries.

The Red Cross is assisting four people affected by the incident, Brian Williamsen, a Red Cross spokesman, said Monday afternoon.

Oberlander saw the aftermath of the crash.

“I got to Rockingham and it was something I’d never expected. The cab of this big semi was just buried in the house right next door. I just wondered how anyone was going to live.”

Oberlander spent most of the night near the scene. The light of morning revealed most of the front of the house at 3010 Rockingham had been reduced to mounds of splintered wood and shattered plaster. Numerous plastic laundry baskets — mostly in shades of blue, pink or white — littered the area. The home’s top half-story hung over the debris.

Oberlander was joined by Sharon Wachal’s daughter, Tracy Wachal-Naab, at the scene. Wachal-Nabb is a State Farm Insurance agent, serves as her mother’s representative and said the styling studio has been in the squat brick building on Rockingham for 55 years.

The building also is the home of Gray’s Barber Shop and a tanning studio.

“As an insurance agent, I’ve seen plenty of cars that hit buildings or homes,” Wachal-Naab said. “Have to say I’ve never seen anything like this.”

City employees at the site said the demolition of the home at 3010 Rockingham was slated to start Monday afternoon.