Home Explosion Survivor Recalls Near-Death Experience
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WAXAHACHIE (CBSDFW.COM) - With pins sticking out of her arm and skin grafts covering her body, Adele Chavez is thankful to be alive.
"I didn't have a clue that all of that was going to happen in one day. I mean, that could have ended my life," said Chavez.
Just six weeks ago, Chavez somehow managed to survive her home exploding.
"As soon as I turned the nob on, the explosions just… that's where I started seeing everything falling," said Chavez.
The explosion happened shortly after turning on her stove to make coffee. Buried under a mess of wood, concrete and roofing tiles that were once part of her home, Chavez at first could not find the word to call for help.
"Could this be happening to me? Could this be happening to me? And all I was think was my children," said Chavez.
Just the day before, Chavez recalls seeing water gushing from her bathroom after taking a shower.
"I stood next to the commode and starting smelling this foul smell like sewage," said Chavez.
Her lawyer, Tom Carse, believes the gushing water and foul smell was the first warning sign of a gas leak.
"This gas is escaping, migrating through the soil, over to the sewer-line and into her house, going up through the vent pipes and then into the atmosphere," said Carse while showing a picture of the severed line.
Carse has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Chavez, pinning the blame for the explosion on the contractor and firm hired by AT&T U-Verse for the drilling work.
While so much has changed in Chavez's life mostly for the worse, her smile somehow remains.
"I survived it and that's why I'm very thankful and I think that's why I have this smile of my face because I know that I was spared," said Chavez.
When reached for comment, calls and email to the contractor and AT&T were not returned.
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