A massive explosion obliterated a home in Mississauga Tuesday, killing a woman, injuring as many as nine others and causing extensive damage to surrounding houses.
The blast at 4:22 p.m. left insulation falling like snow, building materials strewn across rooftops and the suburban residential street west of Toronto covered in debris, looking like the aftermath of a tornado.
The cause was not immediately clear, but early speculation centred on a gas leak. There was no lingering fire, and smoke from the blast soon dissipated, but first responders wore masks to protect themselves from air thick with particulate matter.
Interviews with neighbours suggested a middle-aged couple with no children lived in the house on Hickory Drive. The identity of the dead woman was not immediately released.
Peel Police said there were “multiple injuries,” but paramedics reported no one had been taken to hospital. Nine people were assessed and treated at triage centres set up on the scene. The dead woman was pronounced at the scene, and the search for victims continued last night, after police established a wide area of evacuation, with a coordinated shut off of gas service.
Bonnie Crombie, mayor of Mississauga, was on scene last night and said 25 homes were damaged, and their residents taken away on buses. As many as 100 people are thought to have been ordered to leave their homes.
The owner of a grocery in a plaza that backs onto Hickory Drive described a “huge explosion,” and a restaurant owner said his staff and customers ran outside to see what happened.
Claudio Cugliari, a freelance photographer who lives nearby, said he rushed to the scene when he heard what at first seemed like a “thunderclap,” followed by a plume of smoke.
“Then I knew it was something else,” he said. “When I got there, it looked like the aftermath of a tornado, strewn 2x4s, lumber, aluminum, all over the street… There was nothing left of the house.”