LATHROP, Mo. — It was a scene of destruction following an explosion shortly after 6 p.m. Monday about 1.5 miles north of Lathrop. No one was home when the explosion destroyed a farm home.

“Witnesses said the force of the explosion blew the house 100 feet in the air,” said Porter Hensen, Clinton County sheriff. “There’s nothing left.”

Emergency responders and the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene on 272nd Street, the sheriff said. Owner Fred Stone had the propane tanks filled earlier in the day and investigators believe the tanks were the cause of the explosion, Mr. Hensen said. Mr. Stone was in Cameron at the time of the explosion, he said.