3:15am UPDATE:

Matt Evans with KMBC tweets: “Pettis County Sheriff Kevin Bond: Several buildings still on fire near the pipeline explosion. Fire crews still working those fires.”

3:06am UPDATE:

A rupture and explosion in a gas pipeline in west-central Missouri overnight sent flames into the air that were visible for miles. Residents in Sedalia reported their homes were shaking.

The rupture happened around 1 a.m. south of Houstonia in a 30-inch gas natural gas pipeline outside a compressor station. Media reports indicate Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Company shut off the flow of gas to the line and reported the fire on the pipeline was out around 2:30 a.m.

The company says no injuries or fatalities occurred. The cause of the rupture is under investigation.

Panhandle experienced a rupture in 2008 in Cooper County that resulted in a similar explosion. Flames in that incident were seen by witnesses more than 70 miles away.

In the 2008 rupture, more than 13-million cubic feet of natural gas was released and damage was calculated at more than $1-million. The cause of that rupture was attributed to corrosion.

2:34am UPDATE:

Matt Evans with KMBC in Kansas City tweets:  “Panhandle Eastern spokesperson: fire is out, valve is shut off & the company is now investigating exactly what happened.”

2:02am UPDATE:  

A representative of Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co says a 30-inch natural gas pipeline outside a compressor station has ruptured and exploded.  The company says there have been no injuries or fatalities. 

The cause is under investigation.

See a short video posted by Youtube user John Pahlow of the explosion and fire below:  

Original story: 

Representative Stanley Cox retweeted this photo taken by Frank Higgins of the fire resulting from an apparent pipeline rupture north of Sedalia.

Representative Stanley Cox retweeted this photo taken by Frank Higgins of the fire resulting from an apparent pipeline rupture north of Sedalia.

Emergency crews are responding to an explosion in west-central Missouri’s Pettis County.

Representative Stanley Cox (R-Sedalia) has tweeted that the explosion happened about 15 miles north of Sedalia in the Hughesville area, on the Panhandle Pipeline.   The Pettis County Sheriff’s Department has confirmed a pipeline explosion south of Houstonia.  A five-mile radius around the explosion has been evacuated.

Missourinet will have more information as it becomes available.