Wood River rebuilds piece-by-piece four months after explosion
WOOD RIVER, Neb. - - Lynelle and Carl Smith are standing right where their house used to be.
Everything changed for the Wood River family on a Saturday morning. They had just woken up and the family of seven were ready to start the day.
“I didn’t understand the full spectrum of what was happening,” Carl Smith said.
“Yeah, I don’t think any of us,” Lynelle Smith said.
“We had an impression something was going on, we didn’t get the details," Carl Smith said.
Craig Zinsser Beaufait lived in the house next to the Smith’s. Authorities say he intentionally tampered with his gas line and blew up the house, taking his own life in the process.
That day, the family of seven were in different parts of the house when they heard what Lynelle describes as the loudest slow-motion boom you could think of. The first thing she thought of was her kids.
“I checked to look at the one that was by himself on the couch and nothing had hit him at all,” Lynelle Smith said.
“Pretty much at that point the wall blew in on me and on our other daughter who was in the bedroom,” Carl Smith said.
The seven of them escaped with only a few scratches just before the house caught on fire.
Everyone in Wood River felt the explosion. Days after, the damages were estimated at $3.5 million dollars.
Mayor Greg Cramer said they’re still trying to piece the neighborhood back together.
“We recently demoed the last two houses that are going to be demoed for right now. All three house sites are cleaned up. The one that actually blew up and the (sic) house to the east, older house on the alley, it finished last week," Cramer said. "The house to the west that burned, they had a demo company come in about four weeks ago anyway. They are planning on rebuilding, so the foundation is planning to come in the next week or two.”
Some lots will be sold and the house on the northwest corner will be used by the fire department as a training house. Cramer said that some people might not be covered entirely by their insurance since the explosion was ruled as terrorism.
Luckily for Patty Debraal, that wasn’t the case.
“We were so lucky, truly," Debraal said. "So, we made the best out of it. We about come out with a new house, new windows, new siding, things are repaired.”
She hasn't been able to live in her house across the street from the explosion since March. She hopes to move back in by September after replacing 17 windows, getting new floors and a new kitchen sink.
Matt Troyer-Miller lives a few houses down the street. He says his family's home lost 16 windows, two doors and screen doors and suffered lots of cracks in the plaster.
“We filed insurance and so far that’s been a slow process, but they've been good to us. It felt like they've been very fair. We keep finding new things that have happened as a result of this," Troyer-Miller said. "With the heat of humidity, we noticed new windows lost their seal. And so we replaced windows two years ago and just about all of them are going to be need replaced again.”
Kramer says he's still amazed at how the community came together after the explosion. He has no doubt the city will be stronger moving forward.
“We want to rebuild this community and help anybody who comes into town," said Cramer. "We’re a nice small town, great school system. I’m sure those lots will sell. I know there’s interest in them already, so we’ll have houses back in those spots probably, hopefully by spring.”
The Smith’s are planning to rebuild on the same spot. Their insurance isn’t covering full cost and they’ll need to cover some themselves.
But they said Wood River is their home.
“It’s going to hard to rebuild in this spot but I think the community is worth it,“ Lynelle Smith said.