An explosion

[MrCleveland]

CLEVELAND -- A day after an explosion rocked a Cleveland neighborhood, people were picking up the pieces and demanding answers.

What exactly happened to the home on West 83rd near Madison remained a mystery on Tuesday, although neighbors said they know what went wrong.

Nearly a dozen homes and several businesses in the neighborhood suffered damage, with some even lifted off their foundations. Thankfully, there were only minor injuries.

The fire department is working with the gas company and the building and housing department to restore gas and heat to at least 22 residents in the area. But first, they have to go and determine the structural integrity of each house.

Aleisha Baker said residents made several calls to Dominion Gas Company about an odor at the house. She said they all got the same response.

"’It’s leaking a little bit, but it should be fine. We are going to come back to the house Monday and fix it.’ But Monday is when the house blew up and now look what it’s done,” Baker said.

Tuesday, fire crews put out hot spot fire still burning under the rubble, while the power company restrung lines blown away in the blast.

"It had to be a massive amount of gas or whatever the cause was to have an explosion to this degree,” Larry Gray with the Cleveland Fire Department.

Dominion admits they were at the house four days before the explosion, but they have not admitted fault for the blast.

This happened last Tuesday. I know someone who lives in that area. It's sad that an area like that had to go through this.

[catlover79]

It's awful. They should've turned off the gas in the entire neighborhood, not just the abandoned house. I feel so sorry for the displaced families who lost everything.