he was happy that nothing else happened because he was really close to the area. you re saying he was literally three doors down from where they think the blast i think are a natured and nothing but a scratch? nothing but a scratch. it was a blessing for him.are a but a scratch? nothing but a scratch. it was a blessing for him. but you see people that were all wet coming out of the area, they were desperate. they never thought that at 11:28 a.m. something like that could happen here. we have a supermarket, we have too many restaurants. this is an area that has a lot of people on a saturday. and police pretty fast to respond to this area. i know that when you were there talking to those folks, how quickly did they get everyone even farther away from the site of this explosion? i think that was about 10 minutes. because when i got here, it was like 5 minutes after everything happened and people was coming out and little by little police and all the firefighters were closing the
it is the strongest earthquake to hit the area in 20 years. and second one in less than two days. so strong that it jolted people more than 100 miles away rocking buildings across southern california. now, the shaking was felt as far away as las vegas. and los angeles. and into northern mexico. the quake also caused this right there that you are looking at, a rock slide that led to the road closures cutting off the only interstate for some time to a town off highway 178 there. the fault appears to be growing and the u.s. geological survey is warning that another even larger earthquake could hit the area. we have team coverage. joe fryer is there on the scene. and steve traverson is joining us as well. steve, what are we learning about the administration s response so far? so the governor has declared
those ruptured gas lines, they re also searching nearby businesses to see if anyone else was trapped inside from that debris, which is covered pretty much this entire area behind me. so, right now, we have about a quarter mile radiance around where this blast took place. that has been blocked off. a massive response here in plantation. about 30 miles north of miami as investigators try to hone in on the cause of this explosion. kendis. it s a very popular shopping center that is located 20 minutes from ft. lauderdale. the chopper right there, right there. look at that scene right there as they re zooming in. i believe that is the aerial version of what morgan was pointing to right there. pretty remarkable pictures. morgan, i know you can t tell but you can see it on the ground how far some of that debris field blew away into another parking lot. what are you seeing down there that is just inspiring or just jaw dropping right now?
the fire rescue officials say 15 to 20 people have been injured following a massive gas explosion at a shopping center in plantation, florida. police are on the scene. they re advising people to avoid the area as first responders work to contain the situation in the aftermath of the eruption. crews have found ruptured gas lines among the rubble. our own morgan cheski has arrived on the scene which is roughly 20 minutes west of ft. lauderdale. morgan, what do you know? yeah, kendis, we just arrived here on the scene a few moments ago. they have established a safe perimeter around where this explosion took place at 11:28 this morning, including several hundred yards in every direction around the shopping center. for right now remains closed indefinitely as fire crews make their way through this damage area and try to find the origin of this explosion. we do know, as you mentioned, they found the ruptured gas lines in the rubble and we re
have crews going through a lot of the businesses making sure that no one is left inside. simply because of the extent of the damage that happened as a result of this blast. and you get a feel to it when you see the aerial view. i had a chance it walk down about a block behind me and you see window after window blown out of the shopping center.it wt a block behind me and you see window after window blown out of the shopping center. i had a chance to speak to a woman and she is joining me here now. andrea lives about a mile from the area. walk me through the scene. you were at home about 11:00 and then tell me what you felt in that moment. well, i was sitting at my desk and i felt like an explosion. i thought it was in my building. but then i heard all the sirens and i knew something was happening. so i came to the area and that is when i found out that this pizza place was blown out. so you feel the shock. you told me that you thought it could have been an earthquake, it was that st