An apparent gas explosion at a shopping plaza in Plantation, Florida, injured several people on Saturday, authorities and local media reported.
The explosion happened Saturday morning at a shopping center in Plantation, west of Fort Lauderdale in Broward County. The blast sent large pieces of debris about 100 yards across the street.
Video posted to Twitter showed the force of the blast scattered debris across a parking lot and blew out several windows at a nearby L.A. Fitness gym, sending patrons running for the exits.
The Plantation fire department said on Twitter that there were multiple patients being treated at the scene.
The authorities also announced on Twitter that the street was closed to traffic.
“Avoid the area of University Drive and Peter’s Road. Fire and PD are working an incident involving an explosion. Command post is set up on S. University Drive in the 800 block. Media Command post set up north of this location,” they tweeted.
The Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported that witnesses said a vacant restaurant appeared to be the source of the explosion.
The city of Plantation is about 6 miles west of Fort Lauderdale.
