It was a quiet afternoon for a Springfield neighborhood, then everything changed.


It happened about 3:40pm this afternoon, at 2550 east Chestnut Street near the intersection of Brown and Chestnut.

There's little left of the home that stood there.

Not only was this one damaged, eight homes in all were damaged.

In fact, the city of Springfield says five homes besides this one are uninhabitable, at least for the time being.

Amazingly, the couple who lived here were not there at the time of the explosion.

They say any other day they likely would have been, but today they were away and it likely saved their lives.

"It's something that you... I just lost everything.  The only thing I know... I found out as soon as I got here, that the neighbors were okay.  I mean, my neighbor's house was half gone. I mean, I'm more worried about here than I am me right now.  I mean, I, other than that I don't know what to say," said homeowner Albert L. Brown.

The cause of the explosion is undetermined but the scope of the damage is huge.

Debris is dangling from trees and homes blocks away had windows broken and pictures knocked off the wall.

It seems just about everyone around the area has some type of explosion experience.

Whether it be a damaged home, pictures that rattled off the wall, or just the sounds of the explosion itself.

We do know 12 people are directly affected.

They will be living either without power or even a home.

The first warm meal Tracy Humphrey could get her hands on wasn't from her home.

She's one of the families without power after crews removed electric meters from a dozen homes.

"We're doing everything we can to assist with the fire and police on this on whatever we can to assist this investigation," said City Utilities spokesperson Joel Alexander.

Half a dozen were for structural reasons, the others like Humprey's were just for safety.

"I"ve checked on my home. Some things are knocked down. Some glass and stuff's broke," said Hymphrey.

The American Red Cross is working with the displaced families to help them find a place to stay.

Humphreys says her husband plans to stay home tonight because he's worried about looters.

The American Red Cross has been out here to feed people and provide assistance.

Just to give you an idea of how big and loud this explosion was, a firefighter reported hearing it just east of 65 on Chestnut.

We also got an e-mail from someone near Highland Springs who heard a loud explosion as well.

Louise Whall with the city of Springfield was back on the scene tonight.

We caught up with her to see just how long this investigation might take. "It may be several days before they know the cause. There's a lot of rubble there they have to work in. We have a backhoe coming in to help them clear it, but it's a very methodical process that they want to use, to determine what the actual cause will be."

We've also learned that three kids were taken to the hospital by their parents as a result of the explosion.

A family member says a 15-year-old, nine-year-old and seven-year-old were in a car across the street from the house when it exploded.

The Fire Marshall says the children were taken to the hospital by their parents and not an ambulance.

The kids' grandfather says they were complaining of neckaches, and ringing in the ears.