HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Today marks the 17th anniversary of the gas explosions that rocked the downtown area of Hutchinson, destroying two businesses.

It started on Jan. 17, 2001, in the Décor Wedding and Party Supplies store with the explosion of natural gas and then spread to Woody’s Furniture store next door.

The next day, an explosion blew up a mobile home in what was the Big Chief Mobile Home Park and killed two people.

The explosions resulted from natural gas leaking from a salt cavern at the Yaggy gas storage field seven miles northwest of Hutchinson. That gas eventually erupted from old brine wells beneath the city, causing the blasts and a number of gas geysers on the city’s east side.

That also forced residents on the east side of Hutchinson from their homes until the city and investigators could determine that it was safe to go home.

The U.S. Senate in 2016 approved the Safe Pipes Act, containing language to improve the safety and regulation of underground natural gas storage facilities based on what happened in Hutchinson.