Tonight on News 7 at 5, an apparent gasoline explosion forces authorities to evacuate a Roanoke apartment complex. Plus a former friend says a Kennedy family member admitted he committed a murder 25 years ago. Showers are firing up again in southwest Virginia. We will check their progress in a few minutes. Witnesses say shortly before three manhole covers blew into the air.
Officials believe gasoline in the sewer caused the explosion.
Ann Kirkpatrick lives in the apartment complex and saw the explosion. No one was hurt, but police have closed off the street around 24-th and Richelieu as a precaution. A hazmat crew has been called in. Officials are trying to trace the source of the gasoline. A couple of mobile homes caught fire this afternoon in Bedford County.