Residents of Devastated Texas Town Work to Restore Lives

April 25, 2013

President Obama visited the central Texas town of West, where a massive explosion last week killed 14 people, injured 200 and destroyed or heavily damaged around half of the homes. Even as they grieve, people in the town are working to restore their houses and their lives.

The funeral procession was made up mostly of fire trucks and passed under a giant American flag. It's the first funeral of many to come in this Texas town and is for volunteer fireman Kenneth Harris. He died trying to stop the blaze that preceded the explosion at the West fertilizer plant.

The explosion on April 18 was so powerful that it registered it as a 2.1-magnitude earthquake. It collapsed an apartment complex and destroyed homes in a five-block radius.

Although most residents survived with no injuries, almost everyone in this close-knit community knew someone who died, was injured or lost a home.

Dorothy Zahirniak barely survived but lost her home. "When I heard the blast, I thought 'My God, what was that?' and then the ceiling fell down on me," Zahiriniak said.

Even outside the main blast zone, many houses suffered structural damage. Homeowners have hired contractors to help remove furniture and other items that can be salvaged.

Most residents who were displaced are with relatives in the area, but the local Veterans of Foreign Wars offered shelter.