wow! how long was the gas leaking before it exploded? That must've been a huge amount gas ignited ....
I found the answer.... " ""They heard a hissing sound coming from the car, its hood lodged into the neighbouring house, and feared an explosion, she said. “We were standing there, hoping the explosion wouldn’t happen, kind of in denial about that possibility,” Jaime said. Then, six minutes after she and Mario took their kids down the block, it happened.'""
Car broke off gas meter allowing 55 psi natural gas out of 3/4" pipe to blow into house. Took only short amount of time for right air/ fuel mixture. Any source of ignition such as fridge coming on and this is result. Homeowners were on vacation. The force of blast sent lots of bricks flying over 200ft. Looks like 12 homes may not be repairable. This could of been must worse with only 7 people injured. All very lucky thank God.
In the states, a gas main to an area could be as much as 60 psi., but the pressure at a residential main before the meter is quite a bit lower. After the main (inside the users side, the pressure here is about 7" of water column. In my rear shop, with the house furnace running in winter, plus the water heater and stove, I have just about 6.9" of WC. Very easy to cap a pipe with your thumb, as in if you need to remove a valve and replace with a plug or whatever. Mine took about 30 minutes of running open to purge the rear shop at about 100 feet. If that meter supplied 55PSI to the house, the windows wouldve probably blown out. No LOL intended. Gas is serious stuff! ws A common operating pressure for natural gas appliances is around 7 inches of water column (WC) or re-stating this in equivalent measure, that's 14.9 millibars or 1743 Pascals or Pa, or about 0.25 psi (pounds per square inch) or about 4 ounces of pressure per square inch. The natural gas pressure of the gas line leading to the home ranges from approximately 1/4 psi to 60 psi, depending on the number of homes or businesses served by the line. This compares to pressures of up to 1,500 psi for large-volume pipelines used to move the gas from the well fields to the local utilities. A harmless but malodorous chemical called mercaptan is added to natural gas by the utility. This allows detection of leaks even at low levels and pressures. Mercaptan smells like rotten eggs. Leave your home and call the utility company from a safe location if you detect this odor.
The female driver should spend a lot of jail time. But in our country, she pleads too impaired to comprehend her actions (mental disability), gets a 30 day jail and out she goes in 20 days (good time served). Restitution - no because she has no money!! I guess depends on how liberal the judge is or conservative.
