Liquefied natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland and then explodes, leveling 30 blocks and killing 130 people.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH₄, with some mixture of ethane, C₂H₆) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas in the gaseous state at standard temperature and pressure.

The Cleveland East Ohio Gas explosion occurred on the afternoon of Friday, October 20, 1944. The resulting gas leak, explosion and fires killed 131 people and destroyed a one-square-mile area on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio.