Some people reported windows blown out and the force of the blast was felt as far away as East Haven, a distance of 30 miles.
“The whole house shook. I didn’t know what it was,” said Cornelia Hull, who lives across the Connecticut River in Portland.
“I felt the ground shake and thought a tree had fallen nearby,” said Ethan Goller, who lives in Ivorytown, 20 miles from Middletown.
At least five people were killed and 12 injured yesterday when a massive explosion rocked a large gas-fired power plant being built in Middletown, Conn., the town’s mayor said.
Fire officials said a natural gas leak caused the blast during testing at the Kleen Energy Systems LLC facility, which was 95 percent complete and due to come online this summer as the largest electricity generating plant in New England.
As many as 200 workers were at the site on any given day and the exact number of dead and injured would not be known until each contractor provided a list of employees, Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano told a press conference.
Search and rescue teams with dogs and several fire departments were still sifting through the rubble after the explosion and fire, Giuliano said.
Kleen Energy Systems is majority-owned by Energy Investors Funds Group, a private equity firm.
Eleven injured people were taken to Middlesex Hospital in nearby Middletown, said Peg Arico, manager of public relations at the hospital. Two were later discharged and one was sent to a hospital in the state capital, Hartford, which also received a patient directly from the scene.
Those admitted had injuries consistent with impact, including broken bones.
The explosion happened just before 11:30 a.m. during tests at the plant, a 620-megawatt gas-fired facility. The fire took about an hour to extinguish.