VICTORIA, Texas – A young mother was killed and her baby girl was injured when an explosion leveled their house in Victoria County.
According to Chief Taner Drake of the Victoria Fire Department, it happened at around 7:15 a.m. Wednesday in the 200 block of Oak Colony Drive.
"My house didn't rock, it shuttered," said David Gisler, who lives down the street. "Anything that can demolish a two-story house in half a second has to have some extreme power."
The explosion shattered glass and scattered debris across the neighborhood. A total of 19 other homes were damaged.
"It felt like an airplane had crashed somewhere," Shirley Gisler said.
When emergency crews arrived, they found a 5-month-old baby girl alive. Her mother wasn't as lucky. Crews found her body buried in the debris.
"She was a very sweet girl," Shirley said of the mother.
She says they went to the same church.
"To go down there is gut wrenching," David Gisler said. "It's a sad sight to see."
Crews were still sifting through the rubble Wednesday evening.
The baby was taken to a hospital in San Antonio. Chief Drake says miraculously she should be OK. He says it looks like a mattress inside the home shielded her from the explosion.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation.