LEXINGTON, Mo. — Eight months after a deadly gas explosion killed a 5-year-old boy and seriously injured two others, Lexington residents are still dealing with the aftermath while the city works to prevent future incidents.
Megan Chappell's house sits across the street from where the April 9 explosion occurred, claiming the life of Alistair Lamb and seriously injuring his father, Jake Cunningham and 10-year-old sister, Cami Lamb.
She says her life changed forever.
“It’ll never be the same," Chappell said.
Chappell says restarting has been a challenge.
She lost almost all the windows in her home during the explosion. For eight months, she’s had plywood where glass should be.
“Our daughter’s bedroom — you can’t tell if it’s midnight or noon,” she said. “That's pretty depressing.”
Chappell said she has been working with contractors and insurance, but insurance doesn't want to pay what the contractor is charging, creating an ongoing struggle.
The night of the explosion left lasting trauma for residents throughout the neighborhood.
“It looked like a scene out of a scary movie,” Megan said. "Shattered glass was all over her home — inside and out. We would go inside and it was like… we didn’t know what to do. And so then we’d come outside and we didn’t know what to do.”
Sarah Saheb lives just a couple of blocks from Megan.
“When people started realizing what was happening, there was sheer panic,” she said.
Saheb said she and her daughter started the memorial that sits where the house that exploded once stood.
Five-year-old Alistair Lamb lost his life in the explosion after a subcontractor working on a fiber optic line accidentally struck a gas line.
“He died suddenly and tragically in something that could have been avoided. And it’s not okay. He shouldn’t be forgotten. It shouldn’t be forgotten, period,” Saheb said. “It’s aggravating. It’s sad. It’s something that could have been avoided — 100% could have been avoided.”
Then, in September, two gas leaks within a 24-hour period led once again to evacuations.
Over the weekend, another case of a gas leak in the city.
Neighbors are hoping for change.
“It’s been a rough year for Lexington, so we don’t need any more of that,” Saheb said.
The city says they are working on it.
Mayor Tom Hughes says they put a 90-day pause on underground boring until the end of the year.
"People are just tired of hearing about gas line hits," Hughes said.
The city currently doesn’t have a map of its underground gas line system, but Hughes says Liberty Utilities and a subcontractor, Magnolia River, started working on one Tuesday.
I reached out to both companies but didn’t hear back.
“We’re just trying to slow everything down and be as safe as we possibly can,” Hughes said. ”It’s just got to be safely marked, and when it’s not, that’s when you have problems."
Neighbors say having a map of the city’s underground gas line system makes them feel a bit safer.
“So whatever they need to do to lessen that risk would, I think, be wise,” Chappell said.
—
KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
