WMBCTV: Double Disaster, North Plainfield Hit by Flooding and Home Explosion

After residents were rescued, a neighborhood continues to pick up the pieces today from flooding conditions and a horrific house explosion that leveled a home in North Plainfield. Jason Agyemang, a lifelong resident here, says it’s been a harrowing experience dealing with flooding of this magnitude. Many parts of New Jersey reported rainfall of over 2 inches and even well over 3 inches in Franklin Lakes as well as over 5 inches in Union County.

“It’s not something that we’re used to,” said Jason Agyemang, North Plainfield Resident. “This block does tend to flood a little bit and we do take precautions to prevent any kind of damage to our houses but we weren’t expecting something like this.”

But flooding was only one part of the horrific experience as a home on Parkview Ave exploded, leaving the house in destruction. Fortunately no injuries were reported in the explosion.

Moments before the house exploded, Agyemang says he and another neighbor were standing in a flooded driveway across the street discussing the flood damage. He says he was blindsided and there was no time to process the explosion as it happened right in front of him.

“We were mid conversation, talking about everything that’s going on and out of no where BOOM. The house just went up,” said Agyemang. “It was really shocking, I wasn’t expecting it at all, but you felt the wave of when the explosion happened. You felt the wave hit you in your chest. It looked like the whole house came off the ground and came crashing down, the roof came off and everything was like something out of a movie.”

Officials have not yet released any information to confirm the cause of the explosion, but we do know the family had reportedly evacuated the home prior to the explosion to avoid the flood conditions. Meanwhile, residents throughout the neighborhood are anticipating a recovery that may take a while.