It’s been three months since a deadly explosion in Philadelphia’s Nicetown section.
“I don’t think life will ever be normal again here,” said Michelle Noland.
Many windows are covered with plywood, there’s broken glass, tarps covering holes, and piles of debris on roofs.
“It was just unbelievable that that just happened all of a sudden,” said Alvin Tyler.
One woman was killed and two others were hurt when several row homes partially collapsed on the 1900 block of West Bristol Street. At least a dozen other homes were also damaged.
The blast happened in June, and the scars are still visible.
At Tyler’s home, plywood is over his living room window, and he said the bathroom tiles that fell off the wall have not been replaced. Tyler said he doesn’t have homeowner’s insurance and is hoping the city can help him make the repairs.
“If the city can’t do anything for me, then I’m going to have to do everything my own self,” Tyler said.
That’s what Noland is doing.
“I had to rehang all sheet rock in the kitchen, all sheet rock in the bathroom, replace this kitchen window, this dining room window…back door,” she said.
Noland lives one block over on Bonitz Street. Part of her home is now under construction because she didn’t want to wait to repair the damage.
“So, three months in, I’m just working on it, just pulling it together because I live here,” Noland said.
The fire department ruled the collapse was caused by a natural gas explosion. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is still investigating.
Tyler said he doesn’t think it’s fair that homeowners should have to pay for repairs since it wasn’t their fault.
“We’re still trying to find out what kind of help we can get, so we just got to wait and see,” he said.
CBS News Philadelphia has been in contact with the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation. We were told officials are looking into what resources may be available for neighbors whose homes sustained damage.