DUBOIS COUNTY, Ind. — A man was found dead Tuesday at the site of a house explosion that happened the day before in southern Indiana, according to Homeland Security.
The explosion was reported Monday evening in the 2000 block of Hilham Road in Dubois County, about five miles from French Lick.
According to Indiana State Police, the explosion could be felt a half-mile away and heard about 10 miles away.
The home was leveled with pieces of it and debris scattered on the ground. Homeland Security officials believe the explosion was caused by liquid propane.
WHAS11 drove through the neighborhood where the explosion happened and saw windows of neighboring homes blown out and glass shattered across the porch.
David Hosick, the public affairs director of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, said the area is a massive debris field.
"The debris field is pretty massive in scope and scale, it does look like a tornado up there, there are things that are 30 feet in the trees, there are things that are 50 to a hundred yards from the main structure of the house," he said. "In addition to the main structure of the house, there were two out buildings, both of those are leveled."
The Dubois County Sheriff’s Office said there were two people who lived in the residence, but only one person was home. A man was unaccounted for until Tuesday morning when crews found him dead in the basement of the home.
PHOTOS | House explosion in Dubois County, Indiana
Family from out of town and living nearby were still trying to process what happened on Monday.
Kern Qualkenbush's sister lived in the now obliterated house. He was in his home next door when it happened.
"What was that?" he asked. "I saw a ball of fire just like, just straight up from the ground."
Once he comprehended what happened, his mind went straight to his sister. It was 6:29 p.m. on the clock, he said, and she should have been home, but she had worked late Monday night.
"I managed to call her on the phone, her cellphone, and I relayed the info, and she said 'David is there," Qualkenbush said.
His sister and her husband, who he identified as 66-year-old David Baker, were hoping to retire soon.
It could have been worse if the homes were closer together, and if his sister were actually home.
"She's lost her home, lost her husband, lost her home, lost all her possessions, she's lost everything," Qualkenbush said.
The State Fire Marshal is working with local utility companies to try and determine if something like an appliance, line in the house or tank broke or malfunctioned.
Anyone who wants to report damage can do so by calling 211.
"It's important that people pay attention to utilities, especially natural gas and propane gas," Hosick said. "Luckily, most times if there's a leak, you can smell it and that's made that way by design, so there are safety factors that are put into play with using gas. I would recommend people get their gas utilities serviced on a regular basis, making sure that everything's up to code and up to snuff so to speak, nothing's decaying, nothing's eroding. By in large, using gas, natural gas or LP gas is a very safe method, it's unfortunate that these things happen from time to time."
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