The 15th Anniversary Of Deadly Gas Explosion In Downtown St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD - It was 15 years ago today (Wednesday) that downtown St. Cloud was rocked by a gas explosion.

On the morning of December 11th, 1998 a crew installing fiber optic cable outside Bellantti's Pizza hit and punctured an underground natural gas pipeline.

An hour later at 11:30 a.m. there was an explosion that could be felt, heard, and seen miles away.  A dust cloud covered the downtown area and debris hurled three blocks away.

The explosion killed four people and injured another 15. The blast also destroyed six buildings and damaged even more.

Today the site is a parking lot.