Lake Dallas residents criticize city's response to house explosion

Atmos Energy says gas leak caused Lake Dallas home explosion

During a special city council meeting in Lake Dallas, Atmos Energy revealed they discovered a gas leak near a home that exploded in March. FOX 4's Amelia Jones has more on what Lake Dallas residents had to say during the meeting.

LAKE DALLAS, Texas - While it's now known there was a confirmed leak near the Lake Dallas home that exploded last month, it's still unclear why it wasn't caught, despite a city council meeting Wednesday to clue in residents.  

Citizens in Lake Dallas did not hold back on their disappointment during the meeting about how city officials handled the emergency. Some of the city council members and the city manager agreed that things could have been done better. 

Lake Dallas house explosion 

The backstory:

Officials responded to reports of a house fire in the 600 block of Moseley Street.

An explosion within the house caused the structure to catch on fire, eventually causing the home to collapse. The house was located just east of Lake Dallas Middle School.

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Later that day, the City of Lake Dallas said they were evacuating nearby residents out of an abundance of caution while emergency crews work to make the area safe. 

The explosion sent one woman to the hospital by careflight with serious injuries. Neighbors nearby were evacuated anywhere from a few hours to several days. 

Lake Dallas residents weigh in

What's new:

Almost two weeks after a home exploded on Moseley Lane in Lake Dallas, the city council held a special meeting focused on the response and investigation. Those who showed up didn't hold back their frustrations. 

FOX 4 spoke to neighbors who shared over the last two weeks, updates were hard to come by and communication with the city and Atmos Energy was difficult. 

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What they're saying:

 "We are all here as a community because we care about our little town. This community takes care of one another," said Jonathan Graves. "We’ve seen that over the past weeks, our local government's response to crisis should reflect that same level of care."

Wednesday night, the people of Lake Dallas made it clear they want city officials to come up with an emergency plan. 

"I hope the management team of the city learns their lesson from this serious disaster and will look toward other cities for guidance when developing an emergency action plan that covers all potential disasters, not just weather-related incidents," said Christina Watson.

Atmos Energy attends meeting

Atmos Energy officials spoke at the city council meeting and revealed crews found a gas leak near the home that exploded. However, Atmos says no one had called it in beforehand. 

In a lawsuit, the woman injured in the explosion has said she did not have an active gas supply running into her home.