Shocked members of a family have today described how the moment a car ploughed through the fence and into the wall of their home felt like 'an earthquake'.
Three women and a baby had been at the property on Furze Road, Thorpe St Andrew when a car careered off the road, through a wooden fence and into the lounge wall, resulting in the window being shifted and large cracks developing both inside and outside the house.
Despite suffering significant damage the driver of the Citroen C2 was spotted desperately trying to reverse the car following the crash, which happened in the early hours of the morning.
Police scrambled the National Police Air Service helicopter to look for the suspect, and another man, who had fled the scene with one person spotted running down Furze Road. They have yet to be located.
A 30-year-old woman, who did not want to be named, but was at the property with her mother, sister-in-law and six-month old nephew, said she had got up after hearing a commotion outside.
She said: 'I saw a man standing outside and seconds later a car came straight into the wall.
'It felt like an earthquake. It was such a loud sound. The man ran off and I shouted to my mum and sister-in-law that someone had hit the house.
'We went out to see what was going on and there was still someone in the car trying to reverse out - there was so much smoke everywhere as if it was going to catch fire.'
She said they moved out of the way but just moments later the person in the car had got out and fled.
The emergency services were called following the crash, which happened near the junction of Plumstead Road East at about 1.30am yesterday, and a fire crew from Carrow attended to make sure the scene was safe.
The family are waiting for structural engineers to fully assess the damage that was caused in the incident which they admitted could have been so much worse as the car hit the wall in the area where the baby's cot was kept.
The woman said: 'It could've been a lot worse. I think we can only thank God it wasn't that bad.'
Her 34-year-old sister-in-law, who lives in Canada but had been staying at the property with her son while visiting her family, said: 'It could've been worse. We're just lucky it wasn't the middle of the afternoon. It felt like a mini-earthquake. It was unbelievable.'
A police spokesman said inquiries were continuing and asked for any witnesses, or anyone with information, to call Norfolk police on 101.
The car had been removed from the garden by 3.20am.
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