Neighbours left behind following Wheatley explosion miss sense of community, home

As Wheatley, Ont., residents remain displaced by this summer's explosion for the foreseeable future, residents near the evacuation zone are left without a town centre or their community as they know it.

"It's quiet now," said Bob Toews, wholives in the last house on Erie Street before the evacuation zone begins.

"It's disheartening. There's no life."

Investigators are still searching for the sourceof the hydrogen sulphide leak that is the suspected cause of the explosionin the town's centre, just a stone's throw from Toews'shouse.

Following the explosion, more than 100 people were evacuated from their homes and had to live in hotels, motels or with family members.

"Couples with young kids, they'd come out to the park and you'd hear them laughing it was a good neighbourhood sound,"Toews said.

"I just hope they can find the source [of the explosion], fix it and get the people returning,"

Living just a few steps away from the downtown section of Wheatley for over 20 years has been convenient, Toews said. He said he used to meet friends at the coffee shop around the corner, but with everything being closed, that's not possible.

"That's where you go and, you know, sit down with your buddies and have a coffee," he said.

An emotional time

Sharon Stasso lives right across the street from Toews, but since the blast, she hasn't been been able to return home other than to retrieve items.

She and her husband just got the keys to a rental place last week; they'd been staying with friends in Kingsville up until then.

Stasso said it's an emotional time.

"We're just happyto have a roof over our head at this point and just getting some normalcy back in our life," she said.

Stasso saidbeing away from their home has been unsettling and surreal.

"It's really disconcerting that everything we worked so hard for is ... in a really poor state."