Years ago, there seemed to be a story almost every week about someone who went into the hospital for, say, knee surgery, and he would come out with the wrong leg repaired. Or, even worse, someone would be slated to have a kidney removed and the doctor would take out the wrong organ.
Welcome to the Digital Age version of that predicament, courtesy of Google Maps.
A home in the Dallas suburb of Rowlett, Texas was demolished by mistake this week after the company hired to take the place down was given the wrong Google Maps address. A home at 7601 Cousteau Dr. in Rowlett was slated for demolition. However, the demolition company, which was using information from Google Maps, mistakenly tore down a house at 7601 Calypso Dr., that was barely a block away from the intended demolition site. The Google Maps result apparently gave the Calypso Dr. address as the one at Cousteau Dr.
To make matters worse for the woman who lived at the Calypso Dr. house, she and her child had to leave their home several months ago after it was damaged by a tornado, and were looking at moving back into the house, soon.
The moral of the story? Maybe dig out that old Thomas Guide to check your address before breaking out the wrecking ball.
Photo: Google’s headquarters. (Bay Area News Group archives).
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