1 dead in Detroit-area house explosion

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ROYAL OAK, Mich., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- An explosion leveled a home in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak Wednesday afternoon, killing one person, a utility company said.

Other nearby homes were damaged.

The identity of the person Consumers Energy confirmed died in the 5 p.m. blast had not been released, the Detroit Free Press reported. The cause of the explosion was being investigated, the utility said.

It wasn't known whether anyone else was injured, the newspaper said.

Neighbor Robert Crowley, 64, said he did not know who lived in the house.

"It was a horrific explosion," Crowley said, noting the noise woke him up from a nap.

Allison Kolesky, 37, who lives more than a mile away, said she heard a bang and thought a tree had fallen on her house under the weight of snow or her two young sons had broken something.

She said the explosion caused a ceramic plate in her china cabinet to fall and break.

She said she and other neighbors went outside to try to figure out what had happened, the Free Press said.