The Exploding Town Disaster

The in-depth story of the Hutchinson Kansas "Exploding Town" Gas Explosion in 2001. As the clock strikes 10:45 AM, a typical morning shatters into pandemonium. A violent explosion tears through a downtown shop, its force so powerful that it destroys about half a block of businesses, shattering glass and debris on unsuspecting pedestrians. But this is only the beginning...

Subscribe for more fascinating disaster documentaries:

Tragic history playlist:

Footage used under fair use.

We reveal the world's darkest and greatest disasters all based on true stories.

[kirigherkins]

Sucks when you're just heading out to grab a coffee in the morning and your town explodes

[man_guy]

her: “the last thing i remember was the ceiling tiles falling down”
my smart ass: “gee, i hope she survived”

[Citybabyattackedbyrats-sfrx]

This is my hometown and I was 16 when this happened. I remember the sink holes freaking me out more than anything. There is still a street that has just been fenced off and you can’t use because it is too close to the sink holes. Which is strange because it’s within 200 ft of houses but wth do I know about that stuff lol. We once got in there with our dirt bikes and had fun riding on the abandoned road. The trailer park that had an explosion was abandoned for a loooong time but is now open and called Flamingo Flats. Probably 10 years ago I was in an abandoned house and found a VHS (which I still have) of a town meeting that was held at the sports arena quickly after the explosions. The town folk were doing classic town folk stuff like grilling the mayor and such. I remember one of the big topics was moving trailers to other parks. Apparently you couldn’t legally move trailers that were manufactured before a certain date. People with mullets and tweety shirts were like “well what’re you gonna do abut it Mr mayor!? It ain’t right goddangit!” And the mayor looked like Abe Lincoln lol.

[misfitsman]

Worker 1: "Hey this thing is normally full by
Worker 2: "Hmmm idk Let's put more in and see what happens..."
Worker 1: "Yeah ok that sounds good."

[hotlavatube]

I was reminded of the twin East Boston (1983) and Merrimack Valley (2018) gas incidents. In both incidents, the gas system was accidentally overpressurized, blowing out pilot lights, and filling houses with gas, resulting in many explosions and evacuations.

[harryshuman]

Hank Hill has been very quiet since this propane diss dropped.

[CTC]

You should do the story of when Quebec went dark in 1989 due to a solar flare.

[Tirani]

This is why I like this channel, stories I haven't heard about before. Thank you.

[mercedizbendz]

Funny thing that this video popped up on my feed. I was born and raised in hutchinson kansas although I live in the chicago area now. I just remember the feeling In my town at the time was just complete uncertainty and fear, not knowing if your house was going to blow up or not.

[fps_crunch]

Lived less than a block away from that couple in sixth grade. Remember like it was yesterday. RIP

[GordonHouston-Smith]

Interesting that Hollywood stores film stuff in the caves. Chislehurst caves in Kent does much the same for the BBC. I lost my group and walked into a cave full of Daleks.

[groofay]

So many comments about so many bots in the comments, makes me wonder if the bots have started commenting about themselves

[ImJustaRandomDudee]

You put 2021 in the description instead of 2001.

[justsumguyu]

This story reminds me of Centralia, PA----a town at risk due to underground faults that no one saw until it was too late

[drtrexarms]

Hutchinson is such a cool little town. It's crazy i'm just now learning about this. The salt mines really are impressive.

[MTurner]

ive been subscribed to lots of various "disastrous events" explainer channels for years now and this is the first time I've ever heard this shared.

Given how scary and unsettling it would be to have a whole town at risk now knowing how to avoid the invisible threat that a minor spark could set off must have been beyond terrifying!

[TheAbyssoftheMind]

Someone who lived in Hutchinson during this time described this to me. It was nerve-wracking, but people just had to keep living and hoping. And then something exploded in her neighborhood. It was rattling. It made the ongoing threat all the more real.

And then it was found to have been a meth lab.

And people were relieved about a meth lab explosion.

[ajking]

what you never mentioned was the fire fighters didint only get called in the felt and heard the first boom

[Blueee]

I was like 3 months old when the gas explosions happened here in town. According to mom they moved the trailer from one trailer park to another due to the explosions.

[c-puff]

Honestly, with how often we see malicious negligence on this channel, it's nice to for once see a large company, in this case the gas company, immediately alert the town officials of the problem AND send out workers to try and control the situation.