Omaha homeowner recounts escaping home explosion Monday: ‘I was sound asleep and I just heard a kaboom’

By Molly Hudson

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (KMTV) — “Shock just shock.”

That’s how homeowner Charlene Murphy describes the moments after escaping her home off of North 30th Street and Lincoln Boulevard, Monday.

“I was sound asleep and I just heard a kaboom,” Murphy said.

Shortly after noon, an explosion woke her up.

“I jumped up and I was kind of in a daze for a minute, the house was a little bit I don’t think it was smokey, I didn’t see fire, I saw dust,” Murphy said.

She said she could see out the west wall of her home and saw her neighbor yelling to call 911.

“At that time I tried the front door, but it imploded so nothing would open,” Murphy said.

Another neighbor, a veteran down the street, helped Murphy and her roommate get out through the window.

“As soon as I opened it up, and I started climbing out and he pulled my roommate out too,” Murphy said.

Murphy said she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary before the explosion happened. She later learned her neighbors had been reporting the smell of gas in the area to MUD for days.

“MUD kept telling them, ‘oh it’s okay’ we are purging the lines, that’s the way it was going to smell,” Murphy said.

I reached out to MUD for a comment, and they shared this statement, “Metropolitan Utilities District is cooperating with the Omaha Fire Department and the Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Office on the investigation to determine the cause of the incident at 3027 Lincoln Blvd. Cooperation will include providing all relevant information as requested by those parties and no further comment will be provided at this time.”

“I am just glad she is okay, you know, people say oh it is just stuff, yeah it is just stuff, but it’s stuff that when you are 70 years old, you have collected your whole life long,” said Karen Evers, Charlene’s friend.

In addition to all her belongings, Murphy is also looking for two of her cats that were at the home, at the time of the explosion.

“They’ve got long hair, they are white with big gray patches on them, and blue eyes, they are gorgeous,” Murphy said.

And now just two days later, Murphy doesn’t know if she will ever be able to get back in her home.

“But before they tear it down, I am going to try to see if, because it’s just right in the front door, is my grandfather’s World War I Army picture,” Murphy said.

Evers is organizing a collection bin to gather any items the community is willing or able to give; including shoes, gift cards, even non-perishable food items. She plans to place the bin at the corner of 34th and Whitmore streets on Friday.

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