A man who was set to move into his West Park home is now unable to a month after the house next to his exploded. NBC6’s Niko Clemmons reports
Friday will mark one month since a home exploded in West Park. Many families were affected and some are still without a home.
Sonel Timothee says he bought his home on Southwest 20th Street and 52nd Avenue last summer not just for himself, but for his two sons. He says he saved and saved until he had enough.
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"You keep saving in order to have a roof over your head and say that's mine,” Timothee said.
However, they couldn't move in right away. Timothee had to make tons of repairs inside, and he was close to finishing those repairs — until the home next door exploded last month. Timothee was at the house hours earlier but his kids were not.
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"Lucky for me, they weren't there, thank God, because the ceiling is on the floor right now,” Timothee said.
On top of the repairs he was already making to finally move in, Timothee now has to deal with the damage from the explosion.
"To see that happened after all your savings are already spent, I wanted to cry that day,” Timothee said.
Local
NBC6 reached out to the city Tuesday for an update. Earlier this month, West Park’s mayor told NBC6 that about 40 to 60 homes were impacted. She said the city was actively trying to help people with state and county resources.
"The city is diligently working and we have been working as you can see since this happened, we've been knocking on doors, giving out information,” West Park Mayor Felicia Brunson said.
Timothee says he went to the city but so far nothing is concrete. All he wants is a home for his family.
"All the answers they have is not appropriate, so I'm still struggling,” Timothee said. "I could bring my kids to a place they can say that's my home, that would be wonderful."
NBC6 also reached out to the state fire marshal to get an update on the investigation.
Timothee created a Gofundme to rebuild his home.
