Video: Luxury house burned down before entirely collapsing into Lake Whitney, Texas

A luxury cliff-side home hanging over Lake Whitney, Texas, was deliberately burned down on Friday to speed up its final collapse due to the gradually subsiding ground. City officials decided to burn the property rather than waiting for its collapse, while people witnessed the demolition by fire from a safe distance in dozens of boats. Watch the video below from the live television coverage!

Florida couple, Robert and Denise Webb, bought the lake-side 4,000 square foot home back in 2012, in good faith to the geologists' and inspectors' sayings of the property being perfectly stable. However, about a year ago, the chalk-like rock began eroding threatening the property in Overlook Court. Authorities were initially notified about the situation in February and two weeks before the ground collapse the Webb couple evacuated the property. County officials met on Thursday to discuss alternative ways of demolishing the house, other than waiting for the total collapse to occur. Setting fire to the house was one of the ideas, which would however require the couple's or the Army Corps of Engineers' authorization. Eventually, firefighters opened holes in the walls and ignited the fire using flares and gasoline. The Debb couple will now be responsible for removing the charred debris. 

The house - built in 2007 - was estimated at around $800,000 and was used by the couple part-time. It was built is an unincorporated area of Hill County, where no building permit was required. According to the Sheriff's Office, this was the only house at stake for now. Nevertheless, the Army Corps of Engineers are closely monitoring other nearby properties along the north shore of the lake.