As the sun came up in Roane County, the extent of the devastation of a sludge slide was evident after a dike broke, blanketing hundreds of acres around the TVA Kingston Steam plant with a mixture of ash and water that knocked at least one home into the middle of a nearby road just after midnight Monday morning.

There were no fatalities and no serious injuries, but at least three homes are unlivable just days before Christmas.

It's a huge mess that's going to take a long time to cleanup.

TVA engineers are inspecting the scene from on the ground from the air, and they're finding out that there's a lot of work to be done, and it won't be easy.

In some places, the sludge and debris was piled 20 feet high.

Earlier officials said 15 homes were damaged, but they now say 12 homes were impacted by the sludge, including three that are uninhabitable because of major structural damage and mud.

Even a Norfolk Southern locomotive and engine got stuck on the tracks, but TVA CEO Tom Kilgore says that train was removed before noon Monday.

Roane County EMA director Howie Rose says, "At approximately 12:30 this morning we had a 9-1-1 reports of a mudslide in the Swan Pond and Swan Pond Circle area."

A dike had broken on an ash containment pond at the TVA Fossil Plant, also known as the TVA Steam Plant, in Kingston.

A wall of water and sludge from the 40-acre pond caused widespread damage for a half mile.

TVA spokesman Gil Francis says, "We've had about five inches of rain, and we think that perhaps the rain and the freezing temperatures may be a contributing factor to the ash pond slide."

Rescuers are thankful that a slide of this magnitude didn't take any lives, and there were only two minor injuries -- two people rescued from a home knocked off its foundation -- and they don't need to be hospitalized.

TVA engineers are trying to figure out what to do next.

TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore says, "We're doing several things, establishing water sampling in the river so we know what's migrating downstream we know what's in that water, then we're looking to clean up the road."

Cleanup could take weeks or months.

The ash is a byproduct of burning coal, and it goes into these ponds when where it stays. The pond itself was about the size of 30 football fields.

TDEC is on the scene and we know the EPA was notified.

The fossil plant has remained operational throughout this, but they only have about 50 to 60 days worth of coal on hand, and the train tracks used to bring the plant's fuel is covered in sludge. That means the plant will have to stretch their supply of coal to make it last, Kilgore says.

If you have been affected by the sludge-slide, TVA says you should call their helpline at 865-717-4006.