RESIDENTS of a Gwent street told how their homes were shaken to the foundations by two explosions.

It happened when petrol got into the drainage system on Scwrfa Road in Tredegar at 7.30pm on Monday and ignited, causing two loud bangs.

Strong fumes seeped into many homes in the street, prompting firefighters to consider evacuating nearby residents amid fears there would be another explosion.

Residents were eventually able to remain in their homes but were told to ventilate them thoroughly.

The road was cordoned off by Gwent Police for several hours while the fuel was flushed out of the drainage system with 3,600 litres of water.

How the petrol entered the drainage system and what ignited it remains a mystery, but Gwent Police are not treating the incident as malicious.

Scwrfa Road resident Glyn Bennett, 48, said: "I heard two loud bangs. I really thought somebody was trying to break down the door with a sledge hammer.

"It also sounded like the roof had collapsed. I have been in a minor earthquake before but this was just so much louder. Somebody could quite easily have died from the explosion or if the fumes had ignited."

Brian Mundee, 63, said: "I heard two explosions that sounded like petrol bombs going off. I think we had the brunt of it because the smell in our kitchen of fumes was like being in a petrol station.

"We had to knock everything off in the house, including our lights, to be careful the fumes didn't ignite. We were really concerned about it. Had I been a smoker I could have set it all off - the fumes were that bad."

John Colwell, 73, said: "The explosion was quite loud and you could feel the vibrations going through the house."

A spokesman for Blaenau Gwent county borough council said: "A two man sewer crew were called out and once the drains were flushed out by the fire service, there was no further action required. The incident was shut down by around 10pm."