Photo by: wsvn
A powerful gas explosion rocked a strip mall in Florida City, sending 10 people to the hospital and causing devastating damage to a restaurant just hours before it was set to open to customers for the first time.
7News cameras captured windows at Caribbean’s Heart Restaurant boarded up after they were blown out at the shopping plaza on West Palm Drive, near Southwest 187th Avenue, Saturday morning.
Video also showed debris at the scene of the blast, with glass covering the parking lot, as the shock from the blast was still settling.
Saturday was supposed to be the grand opening for Caribbean’s Heart, a meticulously decorated restaurant with brand-new furniture.
Video posted to social media showed the interior of the restaurant with the caption, “Grateful to be alive.” Invitations also went out announcing a ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for noon.
Instead, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue officials said, firefighters responded to a propane gas explosion.
“It originated in the restaurant, and then it extended into the smoke shop next door,” said MDFR Division Chief H R.
The deafening sound woke up area residents.
“Plus some black smoke in the air. I mean, it shook the ground, everything,” said witness JF.
“It exploded, and I had no idea what was happening. I got up and said, ‘What happened over there?’” said a woman through a translator.
The woman and her neighbors took in the damage, as dozens of MDFR crews rushed there just before 9 a.m.
Fire crews said the gas company was working inside the building when the explosion happened, causing a partial roof collapse, turning one business owner’s dream into a nightmare.
Firefighters were able to put out the flames. They used K-9s to make sure no one was trapped inside.
Officials said two of the victims has to be airlifted to a trauma center.
As cleanup efforts continued, 7News caught up with one woman who was just released from the hospital
When asked how she was doing, she replied, “More or less good.”
Meanwhile, witnesses were just thankful the outcome wasn’t worse.
“Nobody got killed or nothing, praise to God,” said F.
The other businesses in the strip mall were impacted. As of Sunday night, all the stores in the strip mall are off limits.
Officials said the building has been classified as unsafe, as they continue their investigation.
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Source: wsvn
