South Dakota officials warn residents of snow on gas meters after two house explosions

South Dakota fire officials are informing residents to check their gas meters to ensure snow isn't covering them following two house explosions. 

These explosions occurred over the past month and were caused by large amounts of snow on the meters, the City of Madison Fire Department noted. 

On March 12, the agency released footage of a home explosion obtained by the social news platform Storyful. According to local media reports, no one was home, and there were no injuries in the incident. 

In a Facebook post, the Madison Fire Department wrote "large amounts of snow can put heavy weight and pressure on the pipes which ultimately causes them to break and fail.  "In both home explosions, there was 10+ ft or more of snow on the gas meter."

Officials concluded writing "another issue is snow clogging the vent on the regulator which can cause a build up of pressure which can cause gas to leak into a home," the fire department wrote. "There is no reasonable amount of snow that should be on your gas meter. Clean them as best as you can."

This story was reported from Washington, D.C.