One blow with a bucket and the house is gone: the explosion in Hayward wiped out a home (2 photos + 2 videos)
On Thursday morning, an explosion ripped through a quiet suburb of Hayward, California, literally blowing an ordinary family home to smithereens. 
A construction crew working on widening sidewalks and bike paths accidentally struck an underground PG&E gas line. It was 7:35 a.m. The gas leak continued for several hours: workers smelled the odor and called emergency services, but for some reason, the area was not immediately evacuated.
By 9:35 a.m., the gas was finally shut off, but within minutes, the methane gas that had accumulated in the basement and under the house exploded with such force that the building literally blew up. Video from a neighbor's doorbell camera shows a horrific scene: the roof is torn off and blown away, the walls are shattered into splinters, and debris is scattered dozens of meters. The house simply vanished, leaving behind only a smoking crater and a pile of boards.
Six people were seriously injured, primarily with burns and shrapnel wounds. Three of them are still in intensive care, but doctors are giving a favorable prognosis. Among the injured are residents of neighboring buildings and the construction workers themselves. When the owner of the destroyed house returned from work, he was frozen in shock: practically nothing remained of his home except the foundation and personal belongings scattered across the street.
Neighbors say it was terrifying: windows were blown out within a block, and cars were covered in debris. Firefighters and police cordoned off the area, and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has already launched an investigation. Fortunately, there were no fatalities.
