The blast destroyed several buildings and damaged dozens of others,[4] killing two people and injuring 25 others, including 9 firefighters.

Durham officials stated that they evacuated eight to ten people from the coffee shop prior to the blast.

The leak was reportedly caused by a gas line being breached by contractors who possessed valid work permits.

An office building directly in front of the coffee shop suffered extensive damage to its interior and exterior.

Jay Rambeaut, a Dominion Energy first responder, was sent to UNC Medical Center, where he died from his injuries on April 25.

Following an investigation, officials in the Durham Fire Department released a report[7] which determined that a three person crew from Optic Cable Technology digging horizontally to install underground cables breached a 3⁄4-inch (2 cm) gas line in front of Kaffeinate on the morning of the explosion.

The report was unable to determine what ignited the estimated 46,000 cubic feet (1,300 m3) of natural gas that leaked out of the ruptured pipe in the roughly 60 minutes from the initial breach to the explosion at 10:06 am.