SOUTH ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The cost of heating water went through the roof for one man Wednesday. That's because his hot water heater exploded and rocketed through the roof of his home.
Authorities said Anthony Sobaski Jr. and another adult in the house were not injured even though the 50-gallon electric water heater tore a 4-foot hole through the floor 3 feet from where he was sleeping as it shot from the basement into the sky about 6:15 a.m. It landed about 150 feet away across an alley in a neighbor's yard.
'If it had hit them, they could have been killed. It was just like a rocket,' said Lt. Greg Anderson of the South St. Paul Fire Department.
'It over-pressured and just blew off. Nothing was going to stop it at all. It was a major explosion.'
The blast knocked the $77,000 house off its foundation and killed a pet dog.
Fire officials blamed the accident on an inoperable pressure relief valve.
