Deer Park residents wait to examine home damage following pipeline explosion
DEER PARK, Texas (KTRK) -- The people who live closest to Monday's pipeline explosion in Deer Park aren't sure what they'll come home to once they're allowed back on East Meadow Drive.
The street is still blocked off by authorities as the flame burns in an adjacent field.
ABC13 spoke to two separate residents of the street Tuesday afternoon.
They both described what it was like living through the explosion and subsequent evacuation.
Marina Rodriguez said it felt like a train was rumbling beneath her home and left once a neighbor informed her something had exploded.
RELATED: Deer Park pipeline blast witnesses describe airborne SUV: 'The car goes up in the air and back down'
"I got my dog and son in the car," Rodriguez explained. "Some of the plastic in my car was already melted within seconds of the fire starting."
Rodriguez said her husband wasn't home at the time this took place.
She soon realized she left her young son's medication at home in the rush of leaving but was unable to retrieve it after authorities prevented her from returning due to safety concerns.
Rodriguez's son recently underwent a bone marrow transplant.
His doctor had to call the pharmacy for replacement prescriptions as a result of Monday's situation.
Rodriguez is unsure how badly her home was damaged and is currently staying at a hotel paid for by Energy Transfer, the company that owns the pipeline that exploded.
RELATED: Energy Transfer waits hours before providing statement on pipeline fire
Daisy Coronado lives down the street from Rodriguez and is currently staying with family.
She's also unsure how much damage her home sustained, but based on an aerial video she's seen on television, she believes the cars in her driveway were burned beyond repair.
Coronado said she was working in her garage when the explosion happened.
"You just have to be grateful to God that we made it out OK," she said.
Neither woman knows when they'll be allowed to return home, but the Deer Park Office of Emergency Management did provide a brief update late Tuesday afternoon.
They said Harris County will first have to test the air quality inside of the homes.
The Deer Park Volunteer Fire Department will search them once that has taken place.
Coronado and Rodriguez believe all of their neighbors made it safely out of their homes.
RELATED: Pipeline fire now significantly smaller, expected to burn off later Tuesday, Deer Park officials say
In addition to the impact the explosion had on residents, businesses in the area are also dealing with its aftermath.
There's a Walmart on the other side of the pipeline, and a viewer video sent to ABC13 shows people running out of the store as a large flame loomed in the background.
Those people had to leave their cars in the parking lot overnight but were allowed to come and get them the next morning.
"It was like an oven," Alicia Nieto said of the air as she ran outside of the Walmart.
People had to leave the area once they retrieved their vehicle.
Eyewitness News saw one man trying to get to the store to go shopping, but he was promptly turned away by a Deer Park police officer.
For news updates, follow Chaz Miller on Facebook, X and Instagram.
RELATED: Deer Park pipeline fire's heat drives neighbors away: 'We cannot stay here'
