Families Return Home After Waxahachie Blast

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WAXAHACHIE (CBSDFW.COM) - Families in Waxahachie were allowed back into their homes Tuesday afternoon, more than one day after a house explosion forced evacuations in the Saddlebrook Estates neighborhood. Authorities are continuing to investigate the incident as the result of a gas leak.

The blast on Monday morning destroyed one house and damaged nine others, sending two people to the hospital. The victims were identified by family members as 65-year-old Adele Chavez and her younger brother, Jamie Rodriguez. They are both still at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. Chavez suffered second-degree and third-degree burns, along with a broken arm, according to her family. Rodriguez suffered first-degree burns.

Neighbors felt and heard the explosion from blocks away, and many rushed to help the victims. Now, residents are looking for answers from Atmos Energy. "It could have taken out the whole community," said homeowner Brianna McKee.

Families from 18 homes along and near Arabian Road spent Monday night in hotel rooms, while crews worked to figure out if the area was safe again. "After conducting a thorough safety check of the entire neighborhood, we are confident that residents can safely return to their homes," said Atmos Energy spokeswoman Jennifer Altieri in a Tuesday afternoon news release. "We want to thank the families for their patience and understanding."

While the exact cause of the home explosion is still not known, Atmos Energy workers did locate what could be the source of a potential gas leak. Homeowners recall seeing some crews from the gas company in the neighborhood a couple of days prior to the Monday explosion. "Atmos Energy has discovered evidence of substantial third-party damage to a natural gas line located in close proximity," Altieri said. "This evidence also leads us to believe that we did not experience a system failure."

Inspectors went home-to-home on Monday night and again on Tuesday morning -- even beyond the evacuated area -- to make sure that there were no other possible leaks. "We have concluded an extensive and comprehensive survey and pressure test of our system," Altieri added, "reaffirming residents that our natural gas service is safe and reliable."

This is a neighborhood that is currently seeing a lot of new home construction. "Hopefully this is just a one-off accident," said resident Ismael Alfaro, "but, because a lot of the construction has been going on, a lot of the neighbors are just concerned, on edge, because of that."

Major gas explosions are not unheard of in North Texas. Within just the past few years, there has been one in McKinney, one in Gainesville, and one in Lewisville which killed a man inside of his home. In these cases, Atmos Energy was criticized for not accurately marking its gas lines.