A family of three in Oklahoma were forced to evacuate after a truck collided into their home and broke the gas meter. Due to the severity of the leak, authorities asked neighbors to evacuate as well. Police investigated the accident and have come up with a possible cause for why the truck driver veered off the highway in the first place.
Accident causes dangerous gas leak in the area
On August 11 at around 10 a.m., a trailer truck travelling west on the Northwest Expressway suddenly veered off course and barreled through the backyard of multiple homes before crashing into a home along Northwest 70th Street, according to reports from News 9 and KOCO.
The Oklahoma City Fire Department said that two adults and a child were inside the house at the time of the accident, and fortunately, the truck had crashed into the spare bedroom that was unoccupied.
Scott Douglas from the OCFD said that one of the residents said she thought the accident was “an earthquake” or a “plane crash” at first.
While the family of three was unharmed, the truck had destroyed the gas meter, causing first responders to evacuate several homes in the area.
“Any type of spark could ignite at any second, so that’s why we evacuated,” Douglas said. “We want to keep everybody at a safe distance to make sure if something does happen, if it sparks for whatever reason, this whole area can really go up in flames.”
Meanwhile, first responders worked quickly to save the driver of the truck who was trapped inside the vehicle. Firefighters were able to extract the driver and transport the person to a local hospital. Oklahoma Natural Gas turned off gas and power lines in the area.
Police believe that the truck driver experienced a medical episode that led to the crash.
