ChefChiTown
The secret ingredient? MY BALLS
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I live about 2 miles away from where this took place. So, this literally hit close to home for me. This written news article doesn't do this story justice; it really doesn't. So, since I live in Cleveland, allow me to explain what is really going on with this...
A house on Cleveland's West Side blew up on Monday. It literally blew up, as if a bomb exploded inside of it. The house had been abandoned for quite some time, so luckily, there were no residents inside of it at the time. It hasn't been confirmed as of yet, but officials believe that thieves had raided the house in an attempt to steal supplies, such as steel, wood and copper. Currently, firefighters and city officials are searching for a definite verification of this, but is believed that the thieves had completely disassembled the system of copper piping that was used to carry gas throughout the house.
The house was abandoned, but the gas was never shut off. People in the neighborhood had recently complained about a gasous odor and the gas company was literally in the process of investigating the complaints. Unfortunately, the cause of the smell had not been discovered before the explosion occured. Since the gas was never shut off and since the proper piping had been disassembled, gas was literally pouring into the air that both filled and surrounded this house. Something caused an ignition and the house literally exploded.
The house itself is completely destroyed, but that's not where the damage ends. Not even close. The blast was so massive that it could be felt from over a mile away. Homes, apartment buildings, office buildings and businesses have all reported damage from the blast. To give you an idea of how strong the explosion was, the roof of the house that exploded was completely blown off and was found 2 blocks away.
The scene literally looks like a warzone. It is absolutely unbelievable that a house explosion could cause so much widespread damage. Families from the immediate surrounding area (a 2 block radius) have all been evacuated from their homes and are now left without a place to live. Most of the homes have been damaged so badly that they are no longer able to be lived in. Buildings that are located anywhere between 6 to 10 blocks away from the blast have reported structural damage such as blown out windows, cracked walls and shifting foundations.
Today, I talked with one of the construction workers that has been working in the area and he said that the houses are probably going to have to be either rebuilt or completely renovated. In most instances, he stated that the blast had effected the homes in such a horrible way that some repairs wouldn't be able to be remade until the house was completely leveled and a new, unshaken foundation had been laid. He also gave me an account of how strong the blast was, from what he had seen with his own two eyes - he said that the blast was so powerful that it created a shockwave so severe that it blew out windows from the back of houses completely through to the front of the houses, as if the inner walls didn't even exist.
Reports from people who live in and work in the area have been absolutely unreal. People have reported seeing walls instantly crumble before them, cracks open up in floors beneath their feet and lights explode above them. Many people have also reported being thrown into the air when the explosion occured. One man that I saw on the news owns a hardware business which is just a few blocks away from where the house blew up. He was thrown 3 feet into to the air and said that the shockwave was so strong that it knocked the wind of out of him.
Firefighter crews have been working around the clock in order to assess damage and search for bodies. Miraculously, only 4 people so far have been reported to have been injured. None of them have died.
