Video captures home explosion in NJ after flood prompts evacuation
RAHWAY, New Jersey (WABC) -- A house exploded in New Jersey Thursday morning just hours after it was evacuated due to flood waters from Ida, and a person who was traveling in the vicinity was injured by the blast.
It happened around 5:44 a.m. on River Road near Whittier Street in Rahway.
Several residents posted on social media that they heard or felt the explosion, which was caught on Ring video from a nearby home.
Police say the residents of the home evacuated around 1 a.m. due to heavy flooding, and at some point between then and the explosion, gas was discharged into the house.
The blast leveled the house and damaged several nearby homes.
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One man who was driving by at the time of the explosion suffered minor injuries and was being treated at a local hospital.
Rahway Police, Rahway Fire Department and Elizabethtown Gas responded to the scene.
The family that lived in the home, the Patels, just welcomed a baby girl last month and were just grateful everyone was alive.
"I'm just more happy that my wife's OK, our newborn's OK," Mr. Patel said. "They're considering it a total loss. It's going to take a time, so we're just trying to figure out where we're going to be staying, where to pick up the pieces."
The blast sent debris into powerlines, and the family's air conditioning unit was on a neighbor's lawn after crashing into a window.
"We started our life literally here three years ago," Mrs. Patel said. "We got married. We bought our house the same year. In three years, all our stuff is gone."
Still, they were happy to make it out safely.
"I left at midnight with my baby girl, and my parents thankfully were there to help me," Mrs. Patel said. "My car fully flooded now, have to get it towed out."
A neighbor set up a GoFundMe page for them.
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