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ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A uncolored pedal discharge New weekday in eastern university leveled digit houses, spawned fires, and prompted the voiding of digit municipality blocks. At small digit grouping were unaccounted for.

Their two-story bed concern in a downtown residential accord blew up most 10:45 p.m., personnel Chief Roger MacClean said.

The fires consumed an whole bed of homes, wind Chief parliamentarian Scheirer said. While firefighters continuing to effort the brightness into Thursday, the honcho predicted octad houses would be forfeited and added 16 damaged. The drive of the discharge was not known.

Utility workers were having pain dig finished packed layers of snow and cover to a ruptured subsurface pedal distinction that was intake the flames, Scheirer said.

In all, 500 to 600 grouping were evacuated, including elderly residents of a high rise. Residents were taken to a Jewish accord edifice and an agricultural hall at the city's fairgrounds patch emergency crews worked overnight.

Antonio and Jill Arroyo, both 43, forfeited their concern in the fire.

Though it was on the opposite modify of the bed from the concern that exploded, the wind was so coercive that it dispatched a flat-screen machine guardian sailing into Antonio's back.

"I thought we were under attack," he recalled from a diminution where some 250 grouping took country in the hours after the blast.

Antonio said he ran outside and saw that an whole concern had been leveled, a worker today raging in the blot where it erst stood.

"What I saw, I couldn't believe," said Arroya, a accord volunteer.

He and his wife, a nurse, fled their home with exclusive the clothes on their back. They designed to convey at daylight to see what they could salvage. Jill Arroyo broke downbound weeping when she recalled her son's active memorabilia — probable forfeited in the brightness — including DVDs of his high school sport games.

"The DVDs are gone. All his trophies are gone. All gone," she sobbed as her economise comforted her.

Tricia Aleski, who lives a some blocks away, said the discharge jangled her nerves.

"I was datum a aggregation in the experience room and it felt same a colossus kicked the house. It every shook. Everything shook," she said. "I patterned the range and everything, (to) attain trusty everything's off."

Jason Soke was watching college sport when he heard and felt the explosion. It rattled his windows. He went to the ordinal floor and looked out and saw flames and smoke.

"Your senses kind of intend stunned," he said. "It puts you on edge."

Utility crews were shutting downbound the pedal mains in the area.

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