Long Island, NY- The former owner of a Long Island house that exploded into pieces on Sunday – as well as nearby neighbors – were calling their survival an Easter miracle.
The explosion leveled the vacant house on Fourth St. in Brentwood about 10:40 a.m., sending debris raining down on neighboring houses and injuring 21 people, officials and neighbors said.
Donna Soto sold the doomed house 2-1/2 months ago after living there 16 years.
“In the last three months, I’ve had a granddaughter, another granddaughter and a grandson,” Soto said, wiping away tears. “Thank God we sold that house, or they all would have been in that house today – all those babies.”
Cynthia Lombardi said she was thankful to have been sick in bed on Easter morning – not watching TV in her living room.
“Their garage door came through my front living room window,” said Lombardi, whose father-in-law was hospitalized with heart trouble after debris smashed into his bedroom. “My house is destroyed.”
Soto said she sold the home to a real estate company, which has been renovating it in hopes of a resale. A “For Sale” sign still stood on the lawn, even as the home it advertised was obliterated.
The 21 injured neighbors were all hurt by airborne debris – but miraculously, no one suffered life-threatening injuries, officials said.
National Grid had responded to a complaint of a smell of gas at the home two weeks ago, according to Karen Young, a spokeswoman for the utility.
“We found a very small leak,” Young said. The utility fixed the equipment – known as a regulator – two weeks ago, Young said.
In the aftermath of yesterday’s blast, National Grid investigators found the regulator and lines to the destroyed home to be working properly, Young said.
“We have not found any gas leaks,” Young said. A leak inside the house would be the owner’s responsibility, she added.
Firefighters scanned the rubble with thermal-imaging technology to confirm no bodies were buried in the rubble.
“It felt like an earthquake,” said Muhsin Kiryaman, 64, an engineer who lives across the street whose kitchen cabinets were blown off the wall. “If I was awake and walking around, I would have been dead.”
Another home directly next-door to the explosion also suffered significant damage, but all the family members were out celebrating Easter at church – and were unharmed.