HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- On Thursday, a Harris County jury awarded $118 million in damages to seven victims of the Watson Grinding explosion.

The explosion at the Watson Grinding plant on Gessner near Clay in January 2020 damaged hundreds of homes, killed three people, and injured more than a dozen.

"I was blown into a standing position out of my bed," Alicia Detamore, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said.

Detamore and her roommate, Suzanne Slavinsky, were forced to leave their home for over a year.

The blast was later traced to a loose hose leaking propylene, which the U.S. Chemical Safety Board said ignited when a Watson Grinding employee flipped a light switch.

Investigators say the plant's gas detection system never sounded, which is why attorneys sued 3M, the company respo

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