Assessing the damage

Portland, Conn. (WTNH) - Following a deadly plant explosion in Middletown Sunday morning, local homeowners are assessing the damage sustained in the blast.

Read the latest on the investigation

People as far away as East Haven and Hamden said they felt the explosion, but obviously nearby homes had the most damage.

The building official in Portland is putting notices in mailboxes of houses near the river. He wants homeowners to call him if they think their house was damaged in yesterday's explosion. He'll be hearing from Bernadette Nyland. Her house is right across the river from the power plant and she's worried about things like this crack in her foundation.

"This wasn't like this before?"
No, it was cracked a little bit, but it was not like this, pushed out like this," she said.

Like many of her neighbors, Nyland also had windows cracked and shattered by the force of the explosion. The blast also shoved around her window bird feeder.

"This was actually blown into the room like this. Just like this," she explained.

She doesn't think any of the damage to her home is all that serious, and hopes to get it fixed soon. What will linger is the memory of what it was like to be outside in her backyard at the moment of that explosion.

"The sonic boom was louder than you ever heard. If they could hear it all around the whole the state, that was frightening. Very frightening," she said.

Anyone with damage more serious than windows, like cracks in the foundation, should call their local building department.