Am I living in a Stephen King novel?

**Sepia and Dust** · February 20th, 2013

Last night, JJ's steakhouse just blew up. Exploded. Somebody smelled gas and began to evacuate the property, then boom. As far as can be determined, nobody was killed, thank God.

Tonight, we're looking forward to some good, heavy sleet followed by about ten inches of snow.

So I'm going to load the shotgun, cut some stakes, and look for a good online joke book, because I'm expecting the rabid dogs, vampires, and clowns to show up at any minute.

But hey--clowns!

**Lily Sawyer** · February 20th, 2013

Yeah...I'm not up to date on everything in Kansas City yet. Is premeditated activity suspected regarding JJ's? A gas leak like that is so rare these days, it's got to be explained by either roadwork (done by poorly-trained, poorly-informed, and poorly-supervised crews), seismic activity (none that we know of in Kansas City), a natural disaster (nada), a recent gas line repair that didn't go well, or someone who intended on blowing up the restaurant.

**Todash** · February 20th, 2013

Originally Posted by Sepia and Dust

Last night, JJ's steakhouse just blew up. Exploded. Somebody smelled gas and began to evacuate the property, then boom. As far as can be determined, nobody was killed, thank God.

Tonight, we're looking forward to some good, heavy sleet followed by about ten inches of snow.

So I'm going to load the shotgun, cut some stakes, and look for a good online joke book, because I'm expecting the rabid dogs, vampires, and clowns to show up at any minute.

But hey--clowns!

You could see the smoke from Overland Park, apparently. (For those of you who for some silly reason aren't familiar with the area, that's about eight miles away.) I'm so glad nobody was killed, but unfortunately several are in the hospital with critical injuries (I hope not burns).

**Moderator** · February 20th, 2013

The report I'd heard earlier this morning said they thought it might have been caused by a construction crew accidentally damaging the line but investigators were still trying to figure it out for sure.

**mstay** · February 20th, 2013

Originally Posted by Moderator

The report I'd heard earlier this morning said they thought it might have been caused by a construction crew accidentally damaging the line but investigators were still trying to figure it out for sure.

And there is one employee they haven't been able to account for yet. They are looking for her in the rubble. Sad.

**Sepia and Dust** · February 20th, 2013

Originally Posted by mstay

And there is one employee they haven't been able to account for yet. They are looking for her in the rubble. Sad.

They found a body.

**Todash** · February 20th, 2013

Originally Posted by Sepia and Dust

They found a body.

I saw that. It's tragic, but considering I've read reports that gas was leaking for hours strongly before the explosion, it's amazing that there weren't 20.

My BIL works in the area; he said the building they're working on had the windows blown out of it. It was a huge explosion.

**Todash** · February 20th, 2013

Also, JJ's is--was--a hugely popular happy hour spot. The Plaza overall is very popular starting around that time until late evening. It was bad but could have easily been so much worse.