Who left the gas on? Homeowner survives this blast ... because she’d gone for a walk!
IT looks like a doll’s house that’s been dropped from a great height.
A bathtub dangles at a crazy angle. Bedclothes hang in the breeze. Bricks are scattered everywhere.
This was Susan House’s beloved home after a huge explosion ripped off two of the walls and left the rest of the property on the brink of collapse.
The 55-year- old’s house may be in ruins but she can count herself extremely lucky to be alive – having left to take her dogs for a walk in the spring sunshine not long before the blast.
She returned to find it looking like a bomb site, with rubble strewn across her garden and her belongings left exposed to the elements. The explosion originated in the kitchen, prompting the emergency services to believe that it was caused by a gas leak because the house is supplied by a propane tank.
Although there was serious damage to the remaining walls and roof, some of the content of the rooms remained intact. Books were still lined up neatly on shelves in the downstairs office, a painting still hung on a remaining wall and the computer seemed unscathed.
What remains of the detached home, called Bleak House, in Theddlethorpe, Lincolnshire will have to be ‘flattened’, according to Miss House’s father.
George House, 86, who has owned the property for 53 years and lives on the same street with his wife Hilda, said: ‘My daughter was out walking the dogs at the time. She lives there alone and it was really lucky that she wasn’t there.
‘She is too upset to talk about it. Due to it being bank holiday there is nothing we can do with it at the moment.’ Residents in Theddlethorpe said the explosion was heard across the village.
Kevin Hinson was in his garden half a mile away when he heard a ‘big bang’. He said he initially thought it was a bomb being tested at the nearby RAF Donna Nook airbase.
He added: ‘It was a massive explosion. I’m just thankful nobody was hurt.’
Emergency crews put out a small fire after the explosion, which took place around 4.30pm on Sunday. The police have launched an investigation to determine what caused the blast, but are not treating it as suspicious.
‘Explosion heard across the village’