A 4,000-pound blast of dynamite shook homes from Newton to Maiden Tuesday morning, which prompted dozens of concerned citizens to call the Catawba County Communications Center.  The blast is the second and final blast in the construction of an artificial lake designed for competition water skiing behind the Wellington and Ashland Acres subdivisions off Rocky Ford Road, Newton Fire Department Chief Kevin Yoder said.

Caldwell Drilling and Blasting Company failed to get a blasting permit from the Catawba County Fire Marshal’s office prior to lighting fuses, Yoder said.

April Foy was in her living room in her home off Myrtlewood Drive in Newton with her baby when she heard what “sounded like a huge wreck.”  The sound carried for at least five square miles as dozens of calls about a possible explosion and tremor flooded lines at the Catawba County Communication Center.

“It shook my house,” she said.  “It scared me half to death.”

A few minutes later, Startown Elementary School was being evacuated. Foy has a daughter in kindergarten there.

She jumped in her car and headed toward the school.

Newton Fire Department had three vehicles checking the area, looking for signs of an explosion or something that could explain the noise.  Crump said there were people checking all around the Startown area from the elementary school to the construction site of the future Target Distribution Center.

Yoder said they believed it was in the Startown area since there where the majority of the calls originated. The Maiden Police Department reported the blast was felt there as well.

“It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” Yoder said.

The elementary school never fully evacuated after learning there was no immediate danger, and they resumed classes.

As of 11:30 a.m., the cause had not been determined, but it startled most of Newton.

Pauline Woodring of Dove Street in Newton was in her garden when it happened.

“I heard a boom like a bomb went off,” she said.  “It shook the ground.”

She said she was in a hole and jumped up when she heard the noise.

“I’d love to know what it was,” Dawanna Williams, a clerk at the Kangaroo gas station across from Exxon said.  She added later, “It shook the whole store.”

She said there was a man standing at the counter when it happened.

Ironically, Caldwell Drilling & Blasting had a 10,000-pound blast last week and no calls came in then, Yoder said.