UPDATE:2 injured in grain elevator explosion in northeast Nebraska

Posted By: Channel 8 Eyewitness News

8@klkntv.com

UPDATE:

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP)

Authorities have not let people who live nearest a northeast Nebraska grain elevator damaged in an explosion return to their homes, fearing the structure could collapse at any moment.
Tuesday’s blast blew a gaping hole into the Anderson Farms elevator in South Sioux City, injuring two people.
City Police Chief Ed Mahon said that the structural integrity of the 230-foot tower is uncertain. Officials hope to tear down the elevator in a controlled fashion before it falls on its own.        

The evacuation zone has been reduced, so some people have gone back to their homes. Large steel cargo containers will be placed along streets to help protect homes from debris if the tower were to collapse.

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At least two people were injured in an explosion that blew a gaping hole in a northeast Nebraska grain elevator and forced authorities to evacuate nearby homes.

The explosion was reported just before 1 p.m. Tuesday at Anderson Farms in South Sioux City. Three people were in the plant, and one person with burns was taken to an area hospital. Another was injured but did not go to the hospital.

South Sioux City Police Chief Ed Mahon says authorities evacuated nearby homes out of concern the elevator might collapse. Mahon says authorities have accounted for all employees at the site

Neighbor Brayden Logan said he heard a huge boom that shook his house four blocks away.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the explosion.