Residents Forced Out of Their Homes After Car Crashes Into Woodbury Townhomes and Hits Gas Line

Nobody on Kingfisher Lane planned to spend Saturday night standing outside in the dark.

But that is exactly what happened when a small SUV tore through three townhome units just after 11 p.m. on June 20, 2026, and ruptured a gas line that could have turned a bad crash into something far worse.

The car kept moving after the first hit. It struck a second unit, then a third, finally coming to rest inside the last one. That third impact hit the gas line.

By the time neighbors stepped outside, the hissing had already started.

A Small SUV Hit Three Homes Before Anyone Could Process What Was Happening

Woodbury police said the crash was reported just after 11 p.m. at the corner of Kingfisher Lane and Woodduck Drive, a quiet residential townhome community in Woodbury, Minnesota.

The vehicle was a small SUV. It did not stop after the first collision. It kept going through a second unit, then came to rest inside a third.

Resident Francesca Gareri told 5 Eyewitness News she came outside with neighbors to find a house bashed in, with the car sitting even farther down the street than the original crash site and more damage trailing behind it.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation. No charges have been confirmed.

The Crash Hit a Gas Line and the Whole Neighborhood Heard It

The third unit took the final hit. That impact struck a gas line and ruptured it.

A neighbor described hearing the gas hissing clearly from outside and said residents were being told to leave immediately because one spark could trigger an explosion and take out the entire block.

CBS News Minnesota confirmed that Xcel Energy crews responded and shut off the natural gas flow within one hour of the crash. About a dozen residents across four townhome units were evacuated while crews worked to contain it.

The driver was taken to the hospital with injuries. Condition unknown. No charges confirmed yet.

Residents of unaffected units were allowed back once the gas was secured. The three damaged units remain off-limits.

Why a Car Hitting a Gas Line Is More Dangerous Than Most People Realize

Most people assume a car crashing into a building is a structural problem. What they rarely think about is what runs inside those walls.

Gas lines, once struck, do not wait. The leak starts immediately and from that point everything depends on how fast crews respond.

Cars hitting gas meters and lines are one of the leading causes of serious gas distribution incidents in the United States. According to the American Gas Association, that factor alone accounts for a significant share of all major residential gas leaks nationwide.

This kind of crash with cascading residential consequences keeps showing up in different cities.

Just recently, a crash knocked down two power poles near a residential block in Steelton, forcing emergency crews to shut down the road while live lines sat feet from nearby homes. Same pattern, different city, different consequence.

If you follow safety stories like this as they break, there is a WhatsApp channel that covers these incidents quickly, usually before the story makes the main news cycle. Worth having in your feed.

Why This Matters

This was a near-miss. Not everyone gets that outcome.

According to a national investigation into gas explosions that have injured hundreds and killed dozens since 2010, federal PHMSA data shows more than 2,700 significant gas leak incidents across the country in that period.

Of those, 362 resulted in explosions, nearly 700 people were injured, and more than 140 were killed.

Vehicles striking gas infrastructure are listed as a dominant cause. This is not a rare edge case. It is a repeating, documented pattern.

Vehicle crashes into homes rarely stay simple either. A Tesla crashed into a Katy, Texas home and killed a woman who was inside her own living room.

In Arizona, a homeowner was forced to open fire after an SUV crashed straight into his San Tan Valley home. Different cities, different outcomes, same dangerous entry point.

The Woodbury residents had minutes. The gas was audible. The response was fast and that is the only reason this story does not end differently.

Key Takeaways

• The crash happened just after 11 p.m. on June 20, 2026 at Kingfisher Lane and Woodduck Drive in Woodbury
• A small SUV struck 3 townhome units and came to rest inside the third
• The crash ruptured a gas line that residents could hear hissing from outside
• Xcel Energy shut off the gas within one hour of the crash
• About 12 residents across 4 units were evacuated as a precaution
• The 3 damaged units remain off-limits
• The driver was hospitalized; condition and charges both unknown
• The cause of the crash is still under investigation

Should gas lines running through shared residential walls have better physical protection from vehicle impacts? And was a one-hour shutoff fast enough, or should there be a stricter national standard? Drop your take in the comments below.

Wrapping Up

Three families cannot go home tonight. The investigation is still open. And the most basic question, why this crash happened at all, has not been answered yet.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. All details are based on publicly available reports at the time of publication. The investigation is ongoing and details may change.