On a night in July, a car crashed into Alissa and Don Jelley’s garage. Sunday night, it happened again — only this time the driver hit their house, careening into their home office and leaving an eight-foot hole in their foundation. 

“We heard this skidding sound, and then it basically felt like an earthquake,” Alissa Jelley said. “But I knew almost immediately what had happened.” 

The three-bedroom cape is perched at the southern end of Broadway where the road bends in to meet South Main Street. It was Don’s childhood home, and the couple bought it and moved in after his father passed away in 2018. 

The couple has always had some sense of the home’s exposure to traffic. Don remembers the cherry tree in the yard when he was a kid that took a string of grazings over the years; he remembers his father repairing multiple fences. 

Their first near-miss was five years ago. While on vacation in Florida, Concord police called Alissa through their doorbell camera to let her know a drunk driver had skidded onto their lawn. They didn’t think much of it. 

Then, in the early hours of a morning in July, a woman swerved at the turn and tore through the left side of their garage. That was expensive and inconvenient but they saw it as more of a one-off — their cars were mostly spared from damage, and the garage was due for a paint job, anyway, Alissa quipped. 

But what happened on Sunday was different. 

They had just finished dinner, and sat down together to catch an episode of Yellowstone — “It was a good episode, too.”

The sound of the crash was so loud that the neighbors came running over. 

“I was in shock,” Alissa recalled. She called 911 and went outside to check on the driver. No one was injured in the crash. 

Concord fire — the same crew — shored up the house to ensure its sturdiness, just as they had with the garage. After a night away at a hotel, the city inspector confirmed that the home was structurally sound: the damage had been largely limited to the foundation, basement and to a back room that serves as a home office. The Jelleys were cleared to return home on Monday and a temporary heat system tided them over until the gas was turned back on. Their cats, Miles and Beans, stayed inside.  

“It certainly could have been worse,” Alissa said. “I’m trying to practice gratitude.”

The Jelleys highlighted that they have a strong support system including neighbors, friends and family. The Concord Fire Department team was not only vastly capable, they emphasized, but thoughtful and kind. Their contractor met the city inspector first thing Monday morning to evaluate the house. A GoFundMe was organized by some of Alissa’s friends in Connecticut. 

At the same time, this crash changed things. 

For the last few days, the whir of each passing car has triggered a flash of panic. Snowplows scraping by overnight in the recent storm woke Alissa with a start. 

“I’m jumpy,” she said. “I don’t feel safe.”

At impact, chunks of concrete from the foundation hurtled across their basement. A collection of model ships built by Don’s dad was obliterated, and he doesn’t yet know the state of his guitar collection — which he joked is “embarrassingly large.

The crash was the latest in a string of tough breaks for the Jelleys this year: Don has dealt with complications after heart surgery, and Alissa was recently diagnosed with endometrial cancer.

They hope the city will consider some kind of change to the road — a flashing light, better signage marking the turn, anything. Currently, there are three chevron signs along the turn and a yellow diamond noting the side road intersection with Wiggin Street a few hundred feet back. 

“Clearly it’s a problem with Broadway,” Alissa said. “With the way people drive, they miss the turn and think that our drive is the road. Something has to change.”

Also, they’ve already looked into ways they can make their home safer, like adding large boulders to stand sentry on their lawn as their neighbors the Walkers, also Don’s godparents, did years ago. 

They also hope people will simply drive with more care. 

“We’re still here, and we’re OK, and we’ll make it through,” Alissa said. “But it would be great if people stopped driving into our house.”

Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com