DES MOINES, Iowa - Neighbors say their homes shook blocks away after a house explosion in Des Moines in the middle of the night, early Friday morning. Firefighters closed off the 1100 block of Arthur, west of E 14th Street.
"I live in the house right next door to it, me and my kids." Marissa tells WHO Radio News her children and five and seven, and were crying and terrified as she hurried them out.
"I woke up to a big, loud boom and shaking like an earthquake. It blew all of my windows out. When I looked out I saw smoke and flames and I didn't know if it was my house, or what."
Other neighbors say the roof of the house blew off and landed on the house on the opposite side from Marissa, caving in walls and doors. Those two neighbors had minor injuries.
People several blocks away felt the explosion. "The whole house shook. We thought something hit our house." Says Deborah. She and her husband, Chad walked down Arthur Street from the east side of E 14th to find out what happened, and got there before firefighters arrived. "We saw the front of the house laying in the street, and pretty much nothing else recognizable as a house. It was leveled." Says Chad. Tufts of white insulation that looks at first like snow lines streets and sidewalks two blocks away from the house that exploded.
Neighbors tell WHO Radio News the homeowners recently moved out of the house and it was vacant.
Police say the house exploded around 3:15 Friday morning, a few blocks northeast of Birdland Park.
Natural gas is suspected as the source of the explosion.
*MidAmerican Energy is investigating, but as of late Friday no determination had been made as to what caused the issue. A spokesperson tells WHO News there appears to be no issue in the natural gas delivery system, and the neighborhood is secure.
Photos by Wendy Wilde