Lake Dallas, Atmos Energy mum on explanation for last week's home explosion

Information remains limited regarding the investigation into why a Lake Dallas home exploded last week.

Home explosion aftermath

What we know:

Atmos Energy technicians and contractors were seen throughout Lake Dallas on Monday, many at or near the house that exploded on March 19 that left one woman hospitalized.

The gas company says crews worked through the weekend and into the week to confirm the safety of the systems and restore natural gas to customers. This included going door-to-door at nearby houses for safety checks.

Related

Lake Dallas house explosion forces resident evacuations

Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of an explosion at a house in Lake Dallas from Thursday night.

Several residents were forced to evacuate the area due to safety reasons.

Amanda Hughes, a Lake Dallas resident who lives a street away from the house that exploded, tells FOX 4's Amelia Jones she and her family were evacuated that night and put in a hotel until Monday.

Atmos Energy paid for their hotel for the duration of their stay.

What we don't know:

Atmos has still not given a specific reason as to why the safety checks continue. Lake Dallas has not released any more information on the explosion since last week, initially stating the explosion was a "utility-related incident."

Lake Dallas' public information officer referred FOX 4 to Atmos Energy for questions on whether a gas leak caused the explosion. Atmos Energy did not answer our specific questions.

FOX 4 reached out to the Lake Dallas city manager, the Lake Dallas mayor and the Lake Cities Fire Marshal Monday, but did not hear back.

The condition of the woman who was hospitalized following the explosion is still not known.

Local perspective:

Hughes has been unable to get any more information on the cause of the explosion from Lake Dallas officials.

"The city employees, I think maybe they just didn't have a plan, they didn't know how to handle such a catastrophe," Hughes said. "Once we left that night it was, no you can't go back, no you can't get this, no, no, no. That's what we heard from everybody."

A Lake Dallas City Council meeting scheduled for Thursday was recently canceled, with the reason given that the house explosion "impacted the ability to meet statutory posting requirements for the meeting."

"We all have questions. Why did you take away our city council meeting? That doesn't make sense. That sounds like another door shut on us," Hughes continued.

What's next:

Lake Dallas said in a statement that it will host a town hall meeting in the near future to discuss the incident, but did not specify a date.

The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 4 reporting.

Lake HighlandsCrime and Public Safety