Janet Williams lives less than a block from the Heyworth grain elevator.
She says she was standing at her front window around 4:30 Tuesday afternoon when an explosion rocked her entire house.
"I heard an explosion and then saw a huge piece of metal fly up in the air," said Williams. "I saw smoke coming up from between two bins, so I grabbed the phone and called 911."
Two workers were injured in the explosion, neither seriously.
Kathy Nelson, who lives in the shadow of the facility, says she heard one of the injured workers sustained burns on his hands.
"It happened behind one of the silos on the other side. Somebody was welding over there. It kind of blew a door off," said Nelson.
Officials from Tate and Lyle, the company that runs the elevator, wouldn't go on camera. But company vice-president Chris Olsen said the facility could be shut down for as long as a month while they complete their investigation.
Olsen says Tate and Lyle is currently working on arrangements with the elevators in LeRoy and Wappella so that farmers can take their product to those locations while the Heyworth elevator is closed.
Olsen said he does not yet have an update on the two injured workers, a damage estimate or an estimate of lost business.
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