A house explosion in Evansville, Indiana on Wednesday left three people dead and some 40 homes damaged.
Law enforcement officials say they do not yet know what caused the explosion, which left the residential street the house stood on covered with debris from the house explosion and damage to nearby structures. According to the Evansville Courier & Press, Evansville Fire Department Chief Mike Connelly said the explosion had a 100-foot blast radius.
A video published by WRTV Indianapolis shows the exact moment of the explosion.
Streets near the site of the explosion were closed down following the explosion. Evansville Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Anna Gray told the Courier & Press that two pepole had been injured inside the house that exploded, while a third person who was injured was in a neighboring house.
Law enforcement and rescue officials have not yet been able to determine if there are any other injuries or fatalities because some of the homes in the area have been deemed too unstable to enter.
The blast was so powerful that it seems to have caused roughly 1,000 power outages in the vicinity, though the majority of homes have since had their power restored. Just before 3pm, the newspaper reported that 162 houses were still waiting for thier power to come back.
The strength of the explosion and its causes are likely to be key points in an ongoing investigation from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Many of the residents of and organisations in Evansville, meanwhile, a town of more than 100,000 people in the southwest corner of Indiana, will remain on alert as the full extent of the damage wrought by the explosion becomes clear in the coming hours and days.
Mayor Lloyd Winnecke tweeted his thanks to the town’s Red Cross chapter on Wednesday afternoon, announcing it has been providing snacks and water to first responders and remain “ready to support sheltering if needed.”
