Mechanicsburg, OH – BETTY J. POKAS, Times Leader Area Editor
FLOODWATERS are blamed for the explosion of a house in Monroe County, which is experiencing the most water-related problems “since before 1936.”
Monroe County Sheriff Manifred Keylor, who viewed the county from an airplane Sunday, reported conditions Monday to the county commissioners. Describing the aerial views in a telephone interview, Keylor told of a house explosion in Mechanicsburg, about two miles from Antioch, on Monroe 47.
“It (the house) looked like toothpicks just shattered into thousands and thousands of pieces,” he said. Keylor said the house had blown up from a propane tank leakage.
Floodwaters created the problem, according to Rick Schuerman, director of the Monroe County Emergency Management Agency. The water came from the Little Muskingum River.
Schuerman said the explosion occurred Friday night, and it was the home of Mike and Laura Abbott, who had left the house and gone to a neighbor’s home.
Initially, Keylor traveled by airplane over Cameron which he described as “a total disaster.” Schuerman also told of the “total devastation” in that community, which often is affected by high waters.