Hot air balloon unexpectedly lands at Rochester home, surprising residents
Add this to the list of "So 2020 things to happen": A hot air balloon came down on a driveway in Rochester on Saturday.
"Not something you see every day. A hot air balloon, sure. But it came down on top of those cars in a driveway," Sue Kee wrote in a Rochester Facebook group. "Didn't take long for the chase vehicle to show up."
Kee noted the balloon landed on the driveway of a home on 3rd Avenue Southeast.
Petra Cochran was upstairs in her home when her dog started freaking out. She then looked outside, and "there was half a balloon hanging out over the house," she told the Rochester Post Bulletin.
Petra and Jeff Cochran live at the home where the balloon landed.
He told KTTC they'd been watching the hot air balloons earlier in the day and was surprised to see one land on his driveway.
"I was working and I opened the window and once I saw that they were OK, I just kind of said, 'well, thanks for dropping in,'" Jeff Cochran said, adding the pilot had gotten stalled in dead air before landing.
No one was injured and no major damage was reported – the basket of the balloon did bump the roofs of two cars on the driveway and the balloon appeared to have ripped when it deflated, according to the Rochester Post Bulletin and KTTC.
According to social media posts, four hot air balloons took off from a soccer field in south Rochester on Saturday morning. This is the only balloon that appeared to make a surprise landing.